9 Intriguing Details About Liliʻuokalani, Hawaii’s Final Queen

Historically, the Hawaiian Kingdom existed for a brief period. Beginning with King Kamehameha I’s unification of the islands and the establishment of a monarchy in 1810, to the overthrow of its last ruler in 1893, the kingdom spanned just 83 years. Yet, within this timeframe, a vibrant and captivating history unfolded—Kamehameha I’s heirs crafted a constitutional governance framework, forged international treaties, set up over 90 diplomatic missions across Europe and Asia, resisted U.S. annexation efforts, and nearly aligned with the Japanese Empire during the 1880s. 

Queen Liliʻuokalani, Hawaii’s last reigning monarch, stands out as a particularly compelling figure. Despite passing away as a private individual in 1917, she spent much of her life championing Hawaii’s autonomy and aiding its populace (while also composing globally renowned music). From the unique origin of her name to her lasting impact on popular culture, here are nine lesser-known facts about Hawaii’s sole queen.

1. Liliʻuokalani’s name was inspired by an eye condition. 

Liliʻuokalani entered the world in Honolulu on September 2, 1838. In her 1982 work The Betrayal of Liliuokalani: Last Queen of Hawaii, Helena G. Allen noted that the privilege of naming the newborn fell to Kīnaʻu, the highest-ranking chiefess and spouse of Oahu’s governor. Drawing from tradition, Kīnaʻu selected a name reflecting a pivotal event in her life around the time of the birth—specifically, a severe eye infection she had endured for days.

Allen recounted that Kīnaʻu named the child “Liliu (smarting) Loloku (tearful) Walania (a burning pain) Kamakaeha (the sore eye).” Alternative sources indicate her full birth name was Lydia Liliʻu Loloku Walania Wewehi Kamakeaʻeha. It wasn’t until April 1877 that she became referred to as Liliʻuokalani, after her brother, King David Kalākaua, designated her as his successor and bestowed her new name. 

2. She was born into a prominent Hawaiian family and later adopted by another. 

Liliʻuokalani’s biological parents were Chief Caesar Kapaʻakea and Chiefess Analea Keaohokāhole, who had served as an advisor to King Kamehameha III. At the time of her birth, the hānai tradition was common among Native Hawaiians, where children from large families were often informally adopted by those with fewer or no children. Shortly after her birth, Liliʻuokalani, who had at least six siblings, was taken in by High Chief Abner Pākī and his wife, Laura Kōnia, the granddaughter of Kamehameha I. The couple had one biological child, Bernice.

“I recognized no other father or mother besides my adoptive parents, and no sister other than Bernice,” Liliʻuokalani wrote in her 1898 memoir Hawaii’s Story. “When I encountered my birth parents, it was with curiosity, yet always with the demeanor I would show to any strangers who took notice of me.”

3. Liliʻuokalani is the creative force behind the beloved Hawaiian folk song “Aloha ʻOe.”

Liliʻuokalani possessed exceptional musical talent. She was skilled at sight-reading music and proficient with instruments like the guitar, autoharp, piano, and zither. However, her true genius lay in composing and writing lyrics—she authored over 150 songs in her lifetime, many of which are now integral to Hawaiian heritage. “Composing came as naturally to me as breathing,” she reflected in her memoir, “and this innate ability, which I’ve nurtured throughout my life, remains a profound source of comfort even today.”

In 1866, at the request of Kamehameha V, she composed “He Mele Lāhui Hawaiʻi” (“Song of the Hawaiian Nation”), which served as the nation’s anthem for a period. Yet, her most celebrated work is the ballad “Aloha ʻOe,” or “Farewell to Thee,” inspired by a tender farewell kiss. 

During a tour of Oahu in 1878 as the kingdom’s heir apparent, Liliʻuokalani visited the rural estate of James Aalapuna Harbottle Boyd, a military officer of British and Hawaiian heritage. As her group prepared to leave, she observed an emotional goodbye between the colonel and a young Hawaiian woman. Deeply moved by the scene, the future queen reportedly penned the song in one afternoon while riding horseback back to her Honolulu residence. The song has since become a cultural icon, featured in films and TV series like Blue Hawaii, Train to Busan, The Simpsons, SpongeBob Squarepants, and The Karate Kid Part III. 

4. Liliʻuokalani was deposed in a coup orchestrated by sugar plantation owners, a U.S. official, and a detachment of U.S. Marines. 

When Liliʻuokalani assumed the throne after her brother King David Kalākaua passed away in 1891, the monarchy’s authority had already been severely weakened. In 1887, her brother was compelled under threat to sign the “Bayonet Constitution,” which stripped the monarchy of much of its power and handed it to white plantation owners. As queen, Liliʻuokalani rejected this document and proposed a new constitution to restore royal authority and expand voting rights for Native Hawaiians. A coalition of sugar planters and businessmen, known as the “Committee of Safety,” collaborated with U.S. Minister John L. Stevens to overthrow Liliʻuokalani and take control of Hawaii, aiming to annex the kingdom to the United States.

Stevens deployed U.S. Marines from the U.S.S. Boston to the island, claiming to safeguard American lives and interests. (However, a Hawaiian official observed, “If the troops were landed solely to protect American property, their placement far from American-owned properties and near Hawaiian Government property was striking and highly suggestive.”)

To avoid bloodshed, Liliʻuokalani yielded to the committee, which established the Provisional Government of Hawaii and appointed lawyer Sanford B. Dole—who had helped draft the Bayonet Constitution—as its president. Stevens recognized the new government without authorization from the U.S. State Department, declaring Hawaii under American protection. President Benjamin Harrison even signed an annexation treaty with the Provisional Government before submitting it to the Senate for approval.

5. During President Grover Cleveland’s term, the U.S. orchestrated a mock invasion to reinstate Liliʻuokalani as ruler. 

Shortly after her overthrow, Liliʻuokalani gained support from newly elected U.S. president Grover Cleveland, who assumed office in March 1893. Cleveland, an anti-imperialist, swiftly removed the annexation treaty from Senate consideration and dispatched former congressman James Henderson Blount to Hawaii to investigate the situation. Cleveland soon concluded that Liliʻuokalani’s monarchy had been unlawfully toppled, prompting the U.S. military to intervene—this time to restore the queen to her throne. 

By December 1893, Albert Willis had been appointed U.S. Minister to Hawaii. He sought to negotiate Liliʻuokalani’s reinstatement, provided she granted amnesty to all coup participants. According to Alexander Stevenson Twombly’s 1899 book Hawaii and Its People, Liliʻuokalani was unwilling to forgive and countered with a stark proposal: the revolutionaries would face execution, and their property would be seized by her government. In her memoir, Liliʻuokalani maintained that while she refused to pardon her enemies, she explicitly told Willis she did not wish for their deaths. 

Despite these efforts, Willis’s negotiations failed. He and Cleveland resorted to a deceptive tactic: staging a fake invasion to pressure Dole and his Provisional Government into surrendering power. U.S. warships gathered near Hawaii’s shores, and Marines simulated invasion preparations, hoping to intimidate Dole. However, Dole stood firm, confident that Cleveland lacked congressional backing for actual military action.

Other nations with stakes in Hawaii grew wary; as noted in Stephen Dando-Collins’s 2014 book Taking Hawaii, Japan and Great Britain each dispatched ships to Honolulu to safeguard their interests in case of conflict between the U.S. and the Provisional Government. However, the invasion was exposed as a ruse, and Dole’s government retained control until Hawaii’s annexation under President McKinley in 1898. 

In 1993, Congress passed a resolution [PDF], officially apologizing “to Native Hawaiians on behalf of the United States for the overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii on January 17, 1893.”

6. Liliʻuokalani was jailed for several months over accusations of involvement in a counter-revolution. 

In January 1895, Robert Wilcox, a Hawaiian royalist, spearheaded a short-lived and unsuccessful revolt against Dole’s government, aiming to reinstate Liliʻuokalani. Wilcox was swiftly captured and given a death sentence, though he was pardoned three years later. The following year, he was elected as Territorial Delegate to Congress for the newly formed Territory of Hawaii. 

Liliʻuokalani was fined $5000 and given a five-year hard labor sentence for allegedly knowing about Wilcox’s plan in advance. The hard labor was later reduced to house arrest at ʻIolani Palace, where she remained imprisoned until September 6, 1895. After her release, she went back to her previous residence at Washington Place in Honolulu, where she stayed under house arrest for an additional five months. 

7. She conveyed hidden messages through song lyrics while imprisoned.

During her house arrest, Liliʻuokalani composed songs like “Mai Wakinekona a Iolani Hale” (“From Washington Palace to 'Iolani Palace”), which contained coded messages about her imprisonment. She published these lyrics anonymously in a Hawaiian-language newspaper. Though unsigned, her people recognized them as messages from their queen and used the newspaper to send her words of encouragement and solidarity in return. 

8. Liliʻuokalani was compelled to formally renounce her throne in 1895.

Following her arrest in January 1895 and before her trial, Liliʻuokalani was pressured to sign a document surrendering all claims to Hawaii’s throne in exchange for the freedom of her jailed supporters. She was warned that refusal would result in her followers being executed by firing squad.

“I would have preferred death over signing it,” Liliʻuokalani reflected on the abdication document, “but I was assured that my signature would secure the immediate release of all those arrested, my loyal supporters who had suffered for their devotion to me.”

Her coerced abdication marked the official end of Hawaii’s monarchy.

9. Liliʻuokalani’s legacy lives on through her estate, which continues to support Native Hawaiian communities. 

Even over a century after her passing in 1917, Liliʻuokalani’s legacy continues to benefit Native Hawaiians. In 1909, the former queen founded the Liliʻuokalani Trust, dedicating the majority of her estate to aiding Native Hawaiian orphans. By 1911, she expanded the trust’s mission to assist “needy children in the Hawaiian Islands, with priority given to those of pure or part-Hawaiian descent.” As reported in its annual statement [PDF], the trust allocated over $40 million in 2020 to support child welfare programs.