House of Kalākaua

Kalākaua

Country	Kingdom of Hawaiʻi
Ancestral house	House of Keawe
Titles	King, Queen, Prince, Princess, Aliʻi
Founder	Kalākaua
Final sovereign	Liliʻuokalani
Current head	extinct
Founding	1874
Dissolution	1917

The House of Kalākaua, or the Kalākaua Dynasty, was the reigning family of the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi between the assumption of King David Kalākaua to the throne in 1874 and the overthrow of Queen Liliʻuokalani in 1893. Liliʻuokalani died in 1917, leaving only cousins as heirs. The House of Kalākaua was descended from chiefs on the island of Kauaʻi, and ascended to the royal throne by election when the males of the House of Kamehameha died out. The torch that burns at midday symbolizes the dynasty, based on the sacred kapu Kalākaua's ancestor High Chief Iwikauikaua.

1 Origin of the House
2 Rise to Power
3 Choosing an heir
4 Fall of the House of Kalākaua
5 House of Kalākaua Members
6 External links

Origin of the House

The dynasty was founded by Kalākaua but included his brothers and sisters who were children of High Chiefess Analea Keohokālole and High Chief Caesar Kaluaiku Kapaʻakea. Through Kapaʻakea's paternal grandmother Alapa'iwahine he was great-great-grandson of Chief Keaweikekahiali`iokamoku the great-grandfather (through another son) of Kamehameha I. Through Kapaʻakea's paternal grandfather Kepoʻokalani (who was also Analea's grandfather) he was descended from one of the ninau pio royal twins Kameʻeiamoku. Analea was great-great-granddaughter of Chief Keaweikekahiali`iokamoku on her mother Kamaʻeokalani's side and on her father ʻAikanaka's father and mother's side she was descended from High Chief Haʻae-a-Mahi, the father of Kekuʻiʻapowa (the mother of Kamehameha). Also on her father's side she was descended from Keaweaheulu. Many of their ancestors were collateral cousins of King Kamehameha I.

Rise to Power

At the time of Kamehameha V's death in 1872 the male line of Kamehameha had gone extinct leaving Lunalilo and Kalākaua the only male relatives of the Kamehameha Dynasty. Lunalilo who had higher blood was victorious in the 1873 election. But by 1874 after Lunalilo's death Kalākaua was the closest male relative to Kamehameha, since the only remaining Kamehamehas were Ruth Keelikolani and Bernice Pauahi Bishop and the only remaining descendants of Kamehameha's brothers Emma Rooke, Elizabeth Kekaaniau and Theresa Owana Laanui were all female.

Choosing an heir

King Kalākaua was frustrated by royal elections of 1873 and 1874 and wanted to avoid them in the future. He first appointed his youngest brother Prince Leleiohoku as his successor. William Leleiohoku, however, died in 1877. Kalākaua then appointed several heirs, in order to avoid royal election: He elevated several (though not all) members of Hawaiian nobility to titles of Prince and Princess, and decreed an order of succession that comprised several royals. His first heir was his elder sister, then princess Liliʻuokalani, then their sister princess Likelike, then her daughter princess Kaʻiulani, then their cousin princess Kuhio Kinoike Kekaulike (governor of Kauaʻi), and her three sons, all royal highnesses.

The most important events during the reign of the House of Kalākaua 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.

Fall of the House of Kalākaua

With the deposition of queen Liliʻuokalani in 1893 the House of Kalākaua ceased to reign, and the death of the Princess Victoria Kaʻiulani in 1899 meant the loss of the last direct heir of the siblings of the reigning monarchs of House of Kalākaua. The main line of the dynasty thus ended when the deposed Queen Liliʻuokalani (who had abdicated and renounced) died in 1917. Their cousins came to be known as the House of Kawananakoa, a branch of the House of Kalākaua, since they are relatives and appointed heirs of King Kalākaua, descended from the royal heir Prince David Kawananakoa, eldest son of the princess Kuhio Kinoike Kekaulike, who had died in 1908. The House of Kawananakoa survives to modern times and at least two of its members have claims to the throne should the Hawaiian monarchy be revived.