Kapiʻolani (December 31, 1834 – June 24, 1899) was the queen of the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi as the consort of Mōʻī (king) Kalākaua, who reigned from 1874 until his death in 1891, when she became known as the Dowager Queen Kapiʻolani. Deeply interested in the health and welfare of Native Hawaiians, Kapiʻolani established the Kapiʻolani Home for Girls, for the education of the daughters of residents of the Kalaupapa Leprosy Settlement, and the Kapiʻolani Maternity Home, where Hawaiian mothers and newborns could receive care.
Kapiʻolani was born December 31, 1834, in Hilo on Hawaiʻi Island to High Chief Kūhiō Kalanianaʻole of Hilo and High Chiefess Kinoiki Kekaulike of Kauaʻi, the daughter of King Kaumualiʻi, the last king of an independent Kauaʻi before its cession to Kamehameha the Great. Her two younger sisters were Kapoʻoloku Poʻomaikelani (1839–1895), who married Hiram Kahanawai, and Kinoiki Kekaulike (1843–1884), who married David Kahalepouli Piʻikoi.
Her full name was Kapiʻolani Napelakapuokakaʻe. Her namesake was her great-aunt High Chiefess Kapiʻolani, who plucked the ʻōhelo berries and openly defied the goddess Pele as a dramatic demonstration of her new faith in Christianity. Kapiʻolani is composed of three words (ka piʻo lani) and literally means "the arch [of] heaven (rainbows signified the presence of royalty)". Her secondary name, Napelakapuokakaʻe, translates to "the sacred flesh of Kakae".
She was raised in Hilo until the age of eight when she was sent to be raised in the district of Kona, on the western side of the island of Hawaiʻi. She went to Honolulu on Oʻahu when she was sixteen and came under the guardianship of King Kamehameha III.
Kapiʻolani was brought up to read and write in the Hawaiian language. Although she learned to understand a few English words and phrases, like many Native Hawaiians she never learned to speak it fluently and required a Hawaiian translator when communicating with English speakers. Kapiʻolani became a member of the Anglican Church of Hawaiʻi after it was established in 1862.
On March 7, 1852, Kapiʻolani married High Chief Bennett Nāmākēhā, a member of the House of Nobles, in Honolulu. She was almost eighteen years old, while her husband was thirty years her senior. He was an uncle of Queen Emma, the wife of Kamehameha IV, on the side of her father George Naʻea. This made her aunt by marriage to Queen Emma, whom she served as her highest ranking lady-in-waiting. Nāmākēhā and Kapiʻolani had no children, although a pregnancy resulted in a miscarriage. For his health the couple voyaged on The Morning Star, a missionary vessel, for months among the Gilbert Islands (present-day Kiribati) but in vain. Nāmākēhā died on December 27, 1860, at Honolulu.
Nāmākēhā and Kapiʻolani were appointed the caretakers of Prince Albert Kamehameha, the only child of Emma and Kamehameha IV. Kapiʻolani was the royal child's chief nurse. The prince died at the age of four, on August 27, 1862, possibly from appendicitis. Historian Helena G. Allen later claimed that Queen Emma blamed Kapiʻolani for the child's death. The prince was under Kapiʻolani's care when he was doused with cold water by the king to calm him during a tantrum. This was traditionally thought to have induced the brain fever which killed the prince. Historian George Kanahele concludes there is little to no evidence of this animosity. Queen Emma wrote Kapiʻolani a very kind reply in her March 1863 letter, "Dear Kapiʻolani, my companion in the caring of my son. You were my son's favorite, your chest must be filled with hurt. You were our third companion... ."
Visiting British dignitaries Jane, Lady Franklin and her niece Sophia Cracroft met "Madame Nāmākēhā" in June 1861. Cracroft wrote:
At last she [Queen Emma] yielded, but sent for his [Prince Albert's] nurse, whom we had not before seen—only heard of. She is the widow of a petty Chief and fulfills her duties exceedingly well. She is rather young and very nice-looking—dressed like us, and in mourning. She went with us, but the dear little child wanted no keeping in order—he was perfectly good.
Kapiʻolani was remarried on December 19, 1863, to David Kalākaua in a quiet ceremony conducted by an Anglican minister. Their wedding was heavily criticized since it fell during the time of mourning for King Kamehameha IV. The couple settled down at Honuakaha, the Honolulu residence of Kalākaua, that lay makai (seaside) to the Kawaiahaʻo Church.
Her second husband was an aspiring high chief and politician who served in the House of Nobles, the Privy Council of State and held many other court and government posts during the reigns of Kamehameha IV, Kamehameha V and Lunalilo. Although unsuccessful in his attempt for the throne in 1873, Kalākaua defeated Queen Dowager Emma to succeed Lunalilo as the monarch of Hawaiʻi on February 12, 1874. Kapiʻolani became queen consort of Hawaii upon the accession of her husband to the Hawaiian throne.
One of the couple's first acts was to conduct a royal progress of the Hawaiian Islands. From March to May 1874, they toured the main Hawaiian Islands of Kauaʻi, Maui, Hawaiʻi Island, Molokaʻi and Oʻahu. The royal pair were enthusiastically received by the people.
Their marriage remained childless. A clinical analysis into the cause of Kalākaua's death led to speculation that the king may have been infertile since Kapiʻolani had a miscarried pregnancy with her previous marriage. Thus, she and her sister Poʻomaikelani adopted, in the tradition of hānai, their sister Kekaulike's three sons. Kapiʻolani took David Kawānanakoa and Jonah Kūhiō Kalanianaʻole and Poʻomaikelani adopted Edward Abnel Keliʻiahonui. In 1883, Kalākaua made Kapiʻolani's nephews princes of Hawaiʻi with the style of Highness in honor of his coronation. After the death of Kekaulike in 1884, Kalākaua and Kapiʻolani assumed legal guardianship over all three boys.
Kalākaua and Kapiʻolani were crowned in a coronation ceremony on February 12, 1883. They were denied this in 1874 because of the civil unrest following the election. Under Minister of Finance Walter M. Gibson, the 1880 legislature appropriated $10,000 for a coronation. The coronation ceremony and related celebratory events were spread out over a two-week period. A special octagon-shaped pavilion and grandstand were built for the February 12, 1883, ceremony. Preparations were made for an anticipated crowd exceeding 5,000, with lawn chairs to accommodate any overflow. Two crowns of gold and precious stones were commissioned in the United Kingdom, while the wardrobes of Kapiʻolani, the other royal ladies and their attendants were also ordered from abroad.
Kalākaua and Kapiʻolani, accompanied by their royal retinue, came out of the palace onto the event grounds. The coronation was preceded by a choir singing and the formal recitation of the King's official titles. The news coverage noted, "The King looked ill at ease". Chief Justice of Hawaii's Supreme Court Albert Francis Judd officiated and delivered the oath of office to the king. The crown was then handed to Kalākaua, and he placed it upon his head. Kalākaua then placed the smaller crown on Kapiʻolani and stated, "I place this crown upon your head to share the honours of my throne." According to a later apocryphal tale, the king had trouble fitting the crown on the queen's elaborate hair. Her ladies-in-waiting tried in vain to rearrange her hairpins and combs, but the crown still could not fit into place. Thus, the king impatiently jammed the crown onto her head causing her to wince in pain.
The ceremony ended with the choir singing, and a prayer. A planned post-coronation reception by Kalākaua and Kapiʻolani was cancelled without advance notice. Today, Kalākaua's coronation pavilion serves as the bandstand for the Royal Hawaiian Band.
That evening, the royal couple hosted a state dinner, and there was a luau at a later day. The hula was performed nightly on the palace grounds. Regattas, horse races and a number of events filled the celebration period. Due to weather conditions, the planned illumination of the palace and grounds on the day of the coronation happened a week later, and the public was invited to attend. Fireworks displays lit up the sky at the palace and at Punchbowl Crater. A grand ball was held the evening of February 20.