More on the Monarchy

The greatest of the Hawaiian monarchs stands in front of Hawaii’s palatial judiciary building:  King Kamehameha I.  He united the islands, but that was little more than 200 years ago.  Under his centralized rule, the tribes stopped fighting with each other.  For this, he is known as ‘The Great.’  I saw his statue today on my venture through Honolulu’s government precinct, next to the CBD (and far from Waikiki).  Here, today, King Kamehameha the Great stands in full regalia: on the spot where the abolition of Hawaii’s monarchy was proclaimed in 1893. 

Kamehameha began the Hawaiian monarchy; Liliuokalani ended it, but it was under protest.  I met her today as well.  Her statue stands in front of the state capitol.  She seemed more accessible, more human, than Kamehameha.  Enforcing that feeling of humanity were two other monuments discovered not far away:  both honored the Aloha Oe, the song everyone associates with Hawaii.  It was written by Liliuokalani after witnessing a heart-rending goodbye on a ranch she was visiting. 

Liliuokolani’s only children were adopted.  Remember, it was her niece who was to inherit the thrown.  So, is there an heir to the Hawaiian throne?  Quite incidentally, two threads came together in Honolulu’s CBD.  First, I discovered yet another statue, this one of Robert Kalanihiapo Wilcox.  Second, I remembered reading about him yesterday in Barnes and Noble’s Local History section.  Here he was on the cultural landscape looking very much the populist hero he is revealed to be in the literature.  He was descended from Maui royalty himself, but later in life took a native Hawaiian princess as his bride.  She was a direct descendant of Kamehameha’s brother.  It is his great granddaughter who is making the best case for being next in line to the Hawaii throne.  Side note: Wilcox became Hawaii’s first territorial delegate to the U.S. Congress, where he was marginalized and forced to use separate facilities because he was of mixed race!  He served only one term.

Why all of this attention to the Hawaiian monarchs?  It’s because I learned in my English composition classes that expository writing is a circular process.  Good stories end where they begin.  You do remember where I started my 80-day venture.  It was in London with the marriage of a Prince in line to the throne of the United Kingdom: may they live happily ever after.  Now, here at my last stop, I end my story with a monarchy whose “ever-after” was not so happy.  The beginning and the end converge here.  I started my trip under the Union Flag in London; I end my journey under the Union Flag in Honolulu.  Yes, the British flag, a symbol of the world’s most successful monarchy, still flies here in the canton of Hawaii’s state flag.  But, you see it flying always with the Stars and Stripes.  The only exception is above the Iolani Palace, the “Buckingham Palace” of its place and time, a visible reminder of monarchical days.

Geographically yours,

D.J.Z.