Liliuokalani, Queen of Hawaii

September 2nd 1838: Liliuokalani is born on the island of O'ahu to Analea Keohokālole and Caesar Kapaʻakea of the royal family of Hawaii.

The naming of any member of nobility in Hawaiian culture was a big deal during Lili's time so when her parents named her they related her name to an event going on around the time of her birth. At that time the queen consort of Hawaii had an eye infection so Lili's mother combined the words liliʻu (smarting), loloku (tearful), walania (a burning pain). The royal family was christian at this time so Lili was also baptized under the name Lydia which is how she was sometimes known by friends.

The Honorable Miss Lydia Kamakaʻeha Pākī. 1838-1874: At a young age as per Hawaiian tradition Liliuokalani along with her siblings were fostered out to other high ranking Hawaiian families. Liliuokalani was given to the Pākī family who throughout her life she considered them more her family than her biological parents. she was raised in the Pākī families home along with their young daughter Bernice who Lili would look back on foundley as her sister.

At the age of four Lili started her education at "The Royal School" which was essentially a private school meant mostly for noble children and members of the royal family so she two of her brothers and one sister along with thirteen of her royal cousins were sent to be educated and made fit to govern if it came down to one of them being monarch. Lili and her other family members were taught reading, spelling, penmanship, arithmetic, geometry, algebra, physics, geography, history, bookkeeping, music and English composition by an american missionary couple who were charged with running the school. However their was serious malpractice at the school where Lili would go to bed hungry and when a smallpox epidemic ran through the school it killed two of her cousins and her biological youngest sister who was seven years old. Eventually the school was shut down and relocated and staffed with much nicer teachers where Lili graduated third in her class in 1853.

After graduating from "The Royal School" Lili entered society as young woman in the king's court where she got to spend more time with her biological parents who were both advisors to the king. not to mention she became a lady in waiting to Queen Emma, King Kamehameha IV wife which greatly boosted her social status. In 1857 Lili became engaged to William Charles Lunalilo who was a distant cousin of hers and a member of the royal family. They had a ton in common such as their love of music and they had gone to school together so it seemed perfect but Lili called off the engagement due to her adopted sisters opposition as well as King Kamehameha's disapproval.

A few years later Lili would meet John Owen Dominis, who was a white American born man who had been mostly raised in Hawaii. John had good ties with the royal Family as Prince Lot's secretary but he had also attended a school right next to the royal school as a child and he would often peak over the fence and talk to the royal children's so him and Lili had known of each other for years. Lili fell head over heels for John especially when despite hurting himself on a royal outing he insisted on walking her home that day. they were engaged in 1860 and planned to get married on Lili's twenty fourth birthday in 1862 however it had to be delayed two weeks after her 24th birthday out of respect to the king and queen whose son Prince Albert had died unexpectedly. On september 16th 1862 Lili married John at her adopted sister and brother in law's home when she was 24 and he was 30. Lili and John's marriage was pretty rough from the start. John had a drinking problem and cheated on her frequently but she loved him so much that she stayed. Additionally her new mother in law seriously disapproved that her white son had married a native hawaiian and would often bully Lili. John and Lili never had children of their own but they adopted two cousins as well as Lili adopting her husband's son from an affair he had.

Princess Liliuokalani 1874-1891: During the 1870's the Hawaiian royal family went through a major succession crisis. King Kamehameha IV died without an heir and than his brother King Kamehameha V also died without heirs and suddenly there were no direct heirs to the throne left so according to the constitution of Hawaii it was up to the legislature to choose the next monarch.

They settled on William Charles Lunalilo who was Liliuokalani's ex fiancé. many hoped that he would have a good long reign and have a bunch of kids after all he was still pretty young but unfourtley he died a little over a year into his reign and once again the legislature had to choose a new monarch and settled upon Liliuokalani's brother. he took the throne as King Kalākaua and originally named his and Liliuokalani's other brother william as his heir but when he died two years later Liliuokalani became her brothers designated heir at the age of 39. As crown princess Liliuokalani preformed many duties and was practically her brothers right hand throughout his reign. During her brothers 1881 world tour she served as regent of Hawaii and handel the smallpox outbreak on the island. She kept it contained to Honolulu and Oʻahu with only 239 people dying. Reasonably it could have been much worse but Liliuokalani was smart and made sure to keep it as contained as possible. In addition to being a good regent and queen in waiting she was a philanthropist. In 1886, she founded a bank for women in Honolulu named Liliuokalani's Savings Bank and helped Isabella Chamberlain Lyman establish Kumu Kanawai o ka Liliuokalani Hui Hookuonoono, a money lending group for women in Hilo. In the same year, she also founded the Liliʻuokalani Educational Society, which was essentially a finishing school for Hawaiian women that was meant to be on par with european finishing schools for white girls. Liliuokalani also attended Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee was a part of a group representing the hawaiian crown.

The Bayonet constitution and the Rise of a Queen: while most of the royal family was away in London Liliuokalani's brother the king had stayed home in hawaii for his health and while everyone was gone white industrialists had forced the king at gunpoint to sign a document which would be known as the bayonet constitution. this document essentially stripped the monarchy of most of its power and gave it to land owners and white business men. Liliuokalani and her sister in law canceled their planned tour of europe and returned home but it was too late the constitution was enacted and despite many attempts to overthrow and get rid of the document it would be a cloud over the royal family for years to come. In 1890 Liliuokalani was made regent again while her brother took a short trip to california but she had no idea this would be the last time she would see her brother. he died in california in january of 1891 and when his body was shipped back to hawaii Liliuokalani knew she was now Hawaii's first Queen.

In the presence of Hawaii's cabinet ministers Liliuokalani took the oath of office and became queen. one of her first acts was to name her heir since she had no biological children and was too old to hope for an heir she named her niece Kaʻiulani as crown princess. Her husband was made prince consort and governor of Hawaii but unfortunately he died just seven months into her reign. on his death Liliuokalani commented in her biography: "His death occurred at a time when his long experience in public life, his amiable qualities, and his universal popularity, would have made him an adviser to me for whom no substitute could possibly be found. I have often said that it pleased the Almighty Ruler of nations to take him away from me at precisely the time when I felt that I most needed his counsel and companionship.

Liliuokalani faced many challenges as queen but the worst of those was how the government had changed under the bayonet constitution. She couldn't pass laws or make policy not to mention if she chose cabinet minister's to support her interests, the bayonet constitution gave the white landowners and minsters power to dismiss the cabinet and replace them with others. Liliuokalani fought viciously to restore power to native Hawaiians and to give the monarchy power but in the end her fight to get these rights back would lead to the overthrow of the monarchy and the annexation of her kingdom.

Barley three years into her reign anti monarchists' protested in the streets over Liliuokalani's attempt to rewrote the bayonet constitution. in order to appease them they abandoned plans to rewrite the constitution but it was too late anti monarchists wanted Liliuokalani to abdicate and annex themselves to the united states. Liliuokalani was deposed on January 17, and the provisional government established under pro-annexation leader Sanford B. Dole was officially recognized by Stevens as the de facto government. She temporarily relinquished her throne to the United States, rather than the Dole-led government, in hopes that the United States would restore Hawaii's sovereignty but at that time the US was in the middle of switching presidents so Hawaii briefly became a protectorate of the united states.

When Grover Cleveland got into office he immediately sent a delegation in order to investigate the overthrow and to see what could be done to help. The delegation immediately concluded that the overthrow was illegal and plans were being drawn up to arrest the men responsible but Liliuokalani was angry and wanted them to be killed for what they did. It was because of this Liliuokalani lost the support of the United states government and cleveland sent the issue to the US senate who concluded with there own investigation that the overthrow was legal. Liliuokalani tried a last ditch effort to agree to not kill those responsible and Cleveland was happy and demanded the provisional government restore her throne but they never did. Hawaii became the republic of Hawaii on july 4th 1893 with Sanford Dole as its president. Dole is famous for helping his cousin start the Dole pineapple company which made the fruit a popular symbol of Hawaii but in reality is a symbol of its loss of freedom.

Two years into the republic a counter revolution was attempted but failed and Liliuokalani was imprisoned as a conspirator. in order to save her life and the lives of the others who had participated she officially abdicated to the republic of Hawaii and wrote this statement about this moment in her biography:

For myself, I would have chosen death rather than to have signed it; but it was represented to me that by my signing this paper all the persons who had been arrested, all my people now in trouble by reason of their love and loyalty towards me, would be immediately released. Think of my position, – sick, a lone woman in prison, scarcely knowing who was my friend, or who listened to my words only to betray me, without legal advice or friendly counsel, and the stream of blood ready to flow unless it was stayed by my pen. — Queen Liliʻuokalani, Hawaii's Story By Hawaii's Queen

For the rest of Liliuokalani's life she tried to fight Hawaiians annexation to the United States but in 1898 the republic was officially annexed and became a territory. Liliuokalani refused to attended the ceremony and her relationship with the United states soured. she was given a pension and was able to travel where she often wrote songs and finished her biography.

Lilouklami finally died on november 11th 1917 in washington palace in hawaii. Liliuokalani is remembered as one of Hawaii's greatest monarchs and is a symbol of free hawaii. the songs she composed in her lifetime such as"Aloha ʻOe", have been described as symbolic of traditional hawaiian music and is a very popular song.