by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2024

The Hawaiian Islands, located in the Pacific Ocean, were originally divided into several independent chiefdoms. The Kingdom of Hawaii was formed in 1795, when the warrior chief Kamehameha the Great of the independent island of Hawaii, conquered the independent islands of Oahu, Maui, Molokai, and Lanai, and unified them under one government and ruled as Kamehameha I, King of the Hawaiian Islands. In 1810, the whole Hawaiian archipelago became unified when Kauai and Niihau voluntarily joined the Kingdom of Hawaii. Two major dynastic families ruled the kingdom: the House of Kamehameha and the House of Kalākaua.

In 1778, British explorer James Cook visited the islands. This led to increased trade and the introduction of new technologies and ideas. In the mid-19th century, American influence in Hawaii dramatically increased when American merchants, missionaries, and settlers arrived on the islands. Protestant missionaries converted most of the native people to Christianity. Merchants set up sugar plantations and the United States Navy established a base at Pearl Harbor. The newcomers brought diseases that were new to the indigenous people including influenza, measles, smallpox, syphilis, tuberculosis, and whooping cough. At the time of James Cook’s arrival in 1778, the indigenous Hawaiian population is estimated to have been between 250,000 and 800,000. By 1890, the indigenous Hawaiian population declined had to less than 40,000.

In 1893, a group of local businessmen and politicians composed of six non-native Hawaiian Kingdom subjects, five American nationals, one British national, and one German national overthrew Queen Liliʻuokalani, her cabinet, and her marshal, and took over the government of the Kingdom of Hawaii. This led to the 1898 annexation of Hawaii as a United States territory. On August 21, 1959, Hawaii became the 50th state of the United States.

In 1993, one hundred years after the Hawaiian monarchy was overthrown, the United States Congress passed, and President Bill Clinton signed the Apology Resolution which “acknowledges that the overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii occurred with the active participation of agents and citizens of the United States and further acknowledges that the Native Hawaiian people never directly relinquished to the United States their claims to their inherent sovereignty as a people over their national lands, either through the Kingdom of Hawaii or through a plebiscite or referendum”. As a result, the Hawaiian sovereignty movement, a grassroots political and cultural campaign to reestablish an autonomous or independent nation or kingdom in Hawaii, was established along with ongoing efforts to redress the indigenous Hawaiian population.

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Kalama Hakaleleponi Kapakuhaili was the only wife of King Kamehameha III of the Hawaiian Islands, son of King Kamehameha I and brother of King Kamehameha II. King Kamehameha III was the first Hawaiian king not to practice polygamy. Born March 17, 1817, in Kailua, on the island of Oahu, Kalama was the only child of Naihe Kukui Kapihe and Chiefess Iʻahuʻula, the younger sister of Charles Kanaʻina, who served on both the Privy Counsel as an advisor to the Kings of the Hawaiian Islands and in the House of Nobles. Kalama’s father was the Honolulu harbor master and admiral of the Hawaiian royal fleet. He accompanied King Kamehameha II on his trip to London, where Kamehameha II and his favorite wife Kamāmalu both died from measles. Kalama’s father Naihe Kukui Kapihe did not return to Hawaii either. He accompanied the coffins of the late King and Queen as they traveled back to Hawaii on the British Royal Navy frigate HMS Blonde but he died on the voyage and was buried at sea.

King Kamehameha III reigned during the transition of the traditional Hawaiian practices to Christianity. He had a partial Christian upbringing and was torn between Christian guidelines and his desire to honor the old traditions. His brother Kamehameha II and his favorite wife Kamāmalu were half-siblings and Kamehameha II was also closely related to his four other wives. Kamehameha III and many of the traditional chiefs wanted a marriage between the king and his sister Princess Nāhienaena but the marriage was opposed by the missionaries because they considered it incest. Kamanele, the daughter of John Adams Kuakini, the Royal Governor of Hawaii Island and Oahu, was proposed because of her suitability in age, rank, and education and because the family had converted to Christianity. However, Kamanele died in 1834 before the wedding took place. Kamehameha III then chose to marry Kalama. On February 14, 1837, in a Christian ceremony, Kamehameha III and Kalama were married.

King Kamehameha III and his wife Queen Kalama; Credit – Wikipedia

Kamehameha III and Kalama had two sons, but they both died in infancy and both were given the same name:

• Keaweaweʻulaokalani I (born and died 1839)
• Keaweaweʻulaokalani II (born and died 1842)

King Kamehameha III and Queen Kalama with Albert Kūnuiākea; Credit – Wikipedia

Kamehameha III and Kalama adopted Albert Kūnuiākea, the son of Kamehameha III and his mistress Jane Lahilahi, a Hawaiian high chiefess. They also adopted Alexander Liholiho, later King Kamehameha IV, whose mother Princess Kīnaʻu, also known as also known as Elizabeth Kīnaʻu, was a daughter of Kamehameha I and a half-sister of Kamehameha III. Therefore, Alexander Liholiho was Kamehameha III’s nephew.

Hawaiian Royal Family: King Kamehameha III (center) and his wife, Queen Kalama (left); the future King Kamehameha IV (left rear), the future King Kamehameha V (right rear) and their sister Victoria Kamāmalu (right), circa 1853; Credit – Wikipedia

On December 15, 1854, at the ʻIolani Palace in Honolulu, Kamehameha III, King of the Hawaiian Islands suddenly died, aged 40, after a brief illness, possibly related to a stroke. He was succeeded by his nephew and adopted son Alexander Liholiho, who was styled as King Kamehameha IV.

Portrait of Queen Kalama by John Mix Stanley which hangs in the Grand Hall of Iolani Palace; Credit – Wikipedia

Kalama outlived both her husband Kamehameha III and his nephew Kamehameha IV, and was known as the Queen Dowager. In 1869, during the reign of Kamehameha V, she welcomed Queen Victoria’s son Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh on his visit to the Kingdom of the Hawaiian Islands. Meeting the prince as he disembarked his ship, she accompanied him in her state carriage with the drivers wearing royal feather shoulder capes, and the footmen dressed in royal fashion. Kalama skillfully managed her property and, at the time of her death, she owned more than 22,000 acres on the island of Oahu. In her will, her maternal uncle Charles Kanaʻina was declared the heir to her vast properties.

In the background, the Royal Mausoleum, Mauna ʻAla, now a chapel; Credit – Wikipedia

Kamala, aged 53, died during the reign of Kamehameha V, on September 20, 1870, in Honolulu, on the island of Oahu. She was buried at Mauna ʻAla (Fragrant Hills), the Royal Mausoleum of Hawaii in Honolulu, Oahu.

Kamehameha Dynasty Tomb – Royal Mausoleum, Honolulu, Hawai; Credit – By Daderot. Self-photographed, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1101293

On November 9, 1887, after the Royal Mausoleum became too crowded, the caskets of the members of the House of Kamehameha were moved to the newly built Kamehameha Tomb, an underground vault, under the Kamehameha Dynasty Tomb. Two additional underground vaults were built over the years. In 1922, the Royal Mausoleum, Mauna ʻAla was converted to a chapel after the last royal remains were moved to tombs constructed on the grounds.

Inscriptions of Queen Consorts of Hawaii on the Kamehameha Dynasty Tomb; Credit – www.findagrave.com

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Works Cited

• Flantzer, Susan. (2024). Kamehameha III, King of the Hawaiian Islands. Unofficial Royalty. https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/kamehameha-iii-king-of-the-hawaiian-islands/
• Wikimedia Foundation. (2023). Kalama. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalama
• Wikimedia Foundation. (2024). Kalama. Wikipedia (Spanish). https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalama
• Wikimedia Foundation. (2022). Naihekukui. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naihekukui
• Wikimedia Foundation. (2023). Royal Mausoleum (Mauna ʻAla). Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Mausoleum_(Mauna_%CA%BBAla)
• Wikimedia Foundation. (2023). Hawaiian Kingdom. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawaiian_Kingdom