House of Kalākaua
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The House of Kalākaua, or the Kalākaua Dynasty, was the reigning family of the Kingdom of Hawai'i between the assumption of David Kalākaua to the throne in 1874 and the overthrow of Lili'uokalani in 1893. (Liliuokalani died in 1917, leaving only cousins.) The House of Kalakaua was originally a family of chiefs on the island of Kauai, and ascended to the royal throne by election when the males of House of Kamehameha died out.
King Kalakaua had frustrated feelings from royal elections of 1873 and 1874 and wanted to avoid such, wherefore he firstly appointed his youngest brother Prince Leleiohoku as his successor. William Leleiohoku however deceased in 1877, after which king Kalakaua appointed several heirs, in order to avoid royal election in the foreseeable future: He elevated several (though not all) members of Hawaiian alii to Princes and Princesses, Royal Highnesses, and decreed an order of succession that comprised of several royals. His first heir was to be his elderly sister, the then princess Liliuokalani, then secondly their sister pincess Likelike, then her daughter princess Kaiulani, then their cousin princess Kuhio Kinoike Kekaulike (governess of Kauai), and her three sons, all royal highnesses.
The most important events during the reign of the House of Kalakaua were the promulgation of the Bayonet Constitution and the overthrow of the kingdom by the Committee of Safety led by former Interior Minister Lorrin A. Thurston.
With the deposition of queen Lili'uokalani in 1893 the House of Kalakaua ceased to reign, and the death of the Princess Victoria Kaiulani in 1899 meant the loss of the last direct heir of the siblings of the reigning monarchs of House of Kalakaua. The proper House of Kalakaua thus ceased to exist when the deposed Queen Liliuokalani (who also afterwards had abdicated and renounced) died in 1917 - and was replaced by their cousins, i.e the House of Kawananakoa (as such of course a branch of House of Kalakaua, as they were relatives and appointed heirs of the original king Kalakaua), descended from the royal heir Prince Kawananakoa, eldest son of the princess Kuhio Kinoike Kekaulike aforementioned, who himself had died in 1908. The House of Kawananakoa survives today and at least two of its members have claims to the throne should the Hawaiian monarchy be revived in some form.
