History

The year 1915 found the 77 yr-old Queen Liliʻuokalani living quietly at “Washington Place”—Her private Honolulu residence named in honor of America’s first president. From Her lānai (porch), one could see Her former Royal Palace, only one block makai (seeward). Directly across the street from Her sat Central Union Church, spiritual home to many of the men who had ended Her reign. Bordering Her property to the west was a more comforting sight, the beautiful Cathedral of St. Andrew with its French Gothic architecture and floor to ceiling stained glass.

The grounds at St. Andrew’s hosted a boarding and day school for girls, founded in1867with support from Queen Emma Rooke and Her husband MōʻīAlexander Liholiho[Kamehameha V].

Education, particularly women’s education, was a passion of Liliʻuokalani’s. In 1888, as Princess, She had founded KaAhahui Hoonaauao Liliuokalani (The Liliʻuokalani Educational Society) which funded the education of orphaned or destitute Native girls. While the society dissolved soon after Her overthrow, Queen Liliʻuokalani continued to fund the education of a number of girls at St. Andrew’s Priory and other schools throughout the Islands.

The reign of Her Majesty ended on 17 January 1893 when a group of White business leaders and missionary descendants--with the support of U.S. Naval forces—executed acoup d’état and seized power in the Islands.

In December of 1896, released from house arrest, Queen Liliʻuokalani traveled to the United States on a mission to prevent the proposed annexation of the Hawaiian nation to the United States and recover Her crown, Her nation, and the rights of Her people to rule themselves. She explained, “I would undertake anything for the benefit of my people. It is for them that I would give my last drop of blood; it is for them that I would spend, nay am spending, everything belonging to me. ”

Hawaiʻi’s Queen met with U.S. President William McKinley, submitting diplomatic protests. She also took Her plea to the American people, asking them to live up to their own calls for government “Of the People, By the People, and For the People.” Those on all sides of the struggle agreed that the great majority of people in the Hawaiian Kingdom opposed annexation.

In 1898, despite the heartfelt pleas of Hawaiʻi’s Queen and Her subjects, U.S. military commanders, fighting a war across the Pacific in the Philippines, pushed Congress to seize the Hawaiian Islands to use as a coaling station and troop rest stop. On 12 September 1898 Ka Hae Hawaiʻi, the flag of the Hawaiian nation, was lowered from the flagpole at ʻIolani Palace; the United States flag was raised in its place.

In 1909, the Queen established the Liliʻuokalani Trust for the benefit of orphaned and destitute children. Today, that institution continues to serve many of Hawaiʻi’s most needy. Her Hawaiian Majesty Queen Liliʻuokalani died at Washington Place on 11 November 1917.

Queen Liliʻuokalani inspired many with Her strength, Her courage, and Her kindness. May Her story, and the stories of Her nation, continue to inspire.