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 Victoria Ka’iulani was named for the Reigning Monarch of England, long a friend to
Hawaiian Royalty. (Queen Victoria had been god-mother to Prince Albert, the son of
King Kamehameha IV and his consort the part English Queen Emma; Albert, too, would meet a
tragic fate - if at a younger age than Ka’iulani - dying of a "brain fever"
at age 4.) From childhood she was raised with complete awareness of the
"double race" complexity of her cultural inheritance, and that unusual demands
would be placed upon her in preparing to become Queen of a sovereign Pacific Kingdom,
whose Indigenous leaders were determined to demonstrate to a Western world still blinded
by racial prejudice that their small Nation was as cultured, dignified, and scientifically
aware as any of the so-called "Great Powers". (‘Iolani Palace would
have electricity before the White House: in March of 1888, Ka’iulani herself was
given the honor of "throwing the switch" that illuminated Honolulu for the first
time.) Proud of her dual Scottish and Kanaka Maoli ancestry, she would become a Victorian
royal equally at home surfing (at which she excelled) as playing croquet; eating poi and
raw fish as "pouring out" at elegant afternoon teas; playing tennis as
paddling a canoe; admiring demonstrations of hula kahiko (this ancient dance tradition
rescued by her uncle the King from missionary-engineered near-oblivion) while herself
learning the ballroom dances of Europe. She could sing, play guitar and ukulele, had
the intense love of flowers and gardening that came from both her ancestries, and
was an expert equestrienne. (Hawaiians had taken to horses immediately, and developed
unique riding traditions of their own.) She loved feminine gowns and had a knack for
sewing…which stood her in good stead during the latter portion of her European exile,
when Americans had overthrown the monarchy and cut of the Princess’ funds from home:
her friends commented that Ka’iulani could wrap a length of any old fabric about
herself and look exquisite. (Rather like another Princess in a much later time…the
ill-fated Diana.) The artistic creativity that was a Kalakaua birthright manifested
in the Princess’ love of the "Great Masters" whose works she examined in
minute detail in Britain’s and Europe’s museums: her expressed desire was to
become a great painter…and some of her youthful efforts - showing promise, if not the
sophistication a longer life would have made possible - survive to this day, including a
Scottish landscape in the collections of Hawai'i’s Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum.
"Island Rose", "Island Flower"…"Pua o Hawai'i"
(Hawai'i’s Flower), "Rose of ‘Ainahau". Ka’iulani’s
memory has evoked the use of all these floral names…and her mystique is irrevocably
linked with one of Hawai'i’s favorite scents…that of the Chinese jasmine.
The Princess loved these delicate blossoms best of all the flowers planted in the grounds
of her home estate. And quite literally "…her name has left the fragrance
of a flower," (the words of poet Ella Wheeler Wilcox) for to this day the jasmine is
called by the Hawaiianized word for "peacock… "pikake"…in tribute
to the Princess’ attachment to both jasmine and her elegant avian pets.
Even graphics for one version of the seal of the Caledonian Society of Hawai'i - whose
web-pages proudly include a tribute to the Princess - contains the multi-stranded
pikake-blossom lei as a reference to the importance of the "Rose of
‘Ainahau" in both Hawai'i’s indigenous and Scottish
heritage. No-one gives or receives this most cherished lei without remembering
Ka’iulani.
Despite this awareness in Hawai'i, Princess Ka’iulani is in some respects a
"lost treasure" of the Scottish heritage…an exquisite and gifted
"fairy tale" Princess still loved and honored in her homeland,
but largely forgotten in the British Isles where she was educated and spent a large
portion of her tragically short life. Save for the portrait by famed New Zealand
artist Kristin Zambucka displayed on the premises of the Wellingborough Golf Club in
Northamptonshire (formerly "Great Harrowden Hall", seat of the Barons Vaux, and
site of Ka’iulani’s finishing school days), no tribute to her memory is known to
exist in the British Isles…though she spent time in England, Scotland, Wales and
Ireland as well. It is to be hoped that - with the ongoing revival of rich Kanaka
Maoli cultural traditions, and the increasing availability of the historical truth in
regards to the fate of the Hawaiian Kingdom - Ka’iulani shall assume her place as not
only a heroine of the Hawaiian people, but of her Celtic kinspeople a world away.
Ka’iulani is known to have visited the home of famous opera singer Adelina Patti in
Wales; on one of the several trips to Scotland with her father - during which they visited
both Edinburgh and Glasgow - she was given the opportunity to handle a book written in by
Elizabeth I;
 in Collington, while a guest of the
R. A. MacFie family’s home -
Dreghorn Castle - she was asked to plant a maple tree. Does it yet stand? If so, it
has fared better than the beloved foliage of ‘Ainahau…long ago consigned to the
ax and covered over with cement. (Of the buildings, only the thatch house from
‘Ainahau is reputed to survive… transplanted to the grounds of the famous
"Waioli Tea Room" in Manoa Valley; Stevenson/Ka’iulani enthusiasts in
Hawai'i lament its poor condition, so fragile has the structure become owing to age and
climate. The elegant mansion Archibald Cleghorn lovingly built for his daughter
while she was away in Britain was destroyed by fire in the 1920s.)
Ka’iulani was devastated when her British guardian - and "second
father" - Theophilus Davies found himself forced to read her the terrible cables
breaking the news of the Monarchy’s fall. A handful of white renegade
businessmen unwilling to see their interests curtailed by the laws of the Kingdom,
conspired and succeeded in forcing Ka’iulani’s beloved Aunt from her throne,
with assistance from representatives of the American military (a gunboat with weaponry
trained on the Royal Palace, and U.S. Marines landed to supposedly "protect the
property" of Americans). A campaign of racist propaganda, and toadying to the
disciples of "Manifest Destiny" in Washington, D.C., kept matters in
foment until "lame duck" President Cleveland was safely out of office, and the
pro-annexation McKinley in his place.
Although her health suffered a blow she was never to recover from (her chronic migraines
and constant susceptibility to ailments began soon after receiving the shocking news from
home), the Princess was devoted to her people’s interests, a woman "leel and
true" in every respect of her noble character…one who could not sit idly by
while her country was wrested away from its people. She made her way to
America’s shores, and - although shy by nature - addressed the press in public with
these resounding words:
"Seventy years ago Christian America sent over Christian men and women to give
religion and civilization to Hawai'i. Today, three of the sons of those missionaries
are at your capitol asking you to undo their father’s work. Who sent them?
Who gave them the authority to break the Constitution which they swore they would
uphold? Today, I, a poor weak girl with not one of my people with me and all these
‘Hawaiian’ statesmen against me, have strength to stand up for the rights of my
people. Even now I can hear their wail in my heart and it gives me strength and
courage and I am strong - strong in the faith of God, strong in the knowledge that I am
right, strong in the strength of seventy million people who in this free land will hear my
cry and will refuse to let their flag cover dishonor to mine!"
The "heathen Princess", the clownish "Princess Koylani" of
pro-Annexation skits and cartoons, the backward "barbarian" or
"savage" anti-Monarchy propaganda-merchants tried to paint her, proved quite a
surprise as she traveled across the United States following her education; instead
of the caricature cannibal expected, the paparazzi of the day were confronted by an
exquisite Royal Princess wearing the latest Paris gowns and speaking cultured English (or
Hawaiian, French and German, if the occasion demanded). The continual attempts to
present all those of Kanaka Maoli heritage as illiterate "children" incapable of
ruling themselves backfired whenever the Hawaiian-Scottish Princess arrived upon the
scene. (As a San Francisco Examiner reporter would snort reprovingly in print, "A
barbarian princess? Not a bit of it. Not even a hemi-semi-demi-barbarian.
Rather the very flower - an exotic - of civilization. The Princess Kaiulani
is charming, fascinating, individual." And yet another reporter would note,
"She is beautiful…there is no portrait that does justice to her expressive,
small, proud face. She… holds herself like a Princess, like a Hawaiian -
and I know of no simile more descriptive of grace than this last…Her accent says
London, her figure says New York…but her heart says Hawai'i.") She had spoken
for her people with the utmost authority, as her royal calling demanded, and her loyalty
to her aunt and Queen never wavered. Had it not been for a few cruel tricks of
historical fate (such as the outbreak of the Spanish-American war and the coming to power
of an American President devoted to the idea of "Manifest Destiny"), Princess
Ka’iulani might have turned the tide and truly saved her nation; as it was, many a
guilty American conscience must later have endured uncomfortable memories of the
noble and courageous Princess, and the truth she represented. At her death, she was
mourned even by her political enemies. "It was impossible not to love
her," acknowledged the American-controlled Honolulu press.
She was only 23 when she died…finally at home in Hawai'i, but health broken by a
life-time of losses - of her governess, god-mother, mother, uncle, beloved half-sister,
guardian, and country. At two a.m. on the morning of March 6th, 1899, the peacocks
dwelling in the 10-acre grounds of her magnificent home estate ‘Ainahau ("land
of hau trees" or "cool place") abruptly began to scream…a terrible din
which alerted all of Honolulu to the fact that the brave half-Scottish Princess who had
traveled so far, seen so much, and made such gallant efforts to save her Hawaiian nation
had only returned home to defeat, ill health, and death. To this day, legend has it
that the cherished pets of "The Princess of the Peacocks" knew the spirit of
their gentle mistress had fled…some of them becoming so inconsolably raucous as a
result that the Princess’ stricken father had to have them shot.
Despite the continued noble efforts of her aunt the Queen and loyal Royalists to bring
America to account for the overthrow of the rightful Hawaiian government (and subsequent
illegal annexation of the island nation), with the death of their beloved Crown Princess,
many Hawaiians felt that hope for restoration of their Nation during their life-times was
at an end. But the influence of the short life of this queenly young woman continues
to this very day…inspiring people of many walks of life and differing backgrounds to
various achievements in her honor. Two communities (and many individuals with ancestral
ties to both) take great pride in her, and justly so.
Today Ka’iulani’s fascinating duality and unbowed Hawaiian spirit inspires
artists, musicians, poets and dramatists to creative attempts to capture its essence, and
explore the Princess’ significance to the complicated modern Hawaiian political and
cultural scene. The renowned musical duo "HAPA" (whose name reflects the
respective Kanaka Maoli/Caucasian ethnic origins of the musicians) have written one of the
loveliest of all the innumerable songs that have been composed in Ka’iulani’s
honor since her birth: "Nani Wale o Ka’iulani"… a song perpetuating a
19th century Hawaiian form in which English and ‘Olelo Hawai'i (Hawaiian language)
lyrics are mixed together. (Their "In the Name of Love" CD’s cover
art features the two artists dramatically juxtaposed, as same-yet-different
cultural/spiritual "warriors", armed with guitars…Keli’i
Kaneali’i barefoot, batik fabric around his hips, Barry Flannagan in boots and kilt.)
"Our love for you forever will remain…; Nani wale o Ka’iulani,
There’s beauty in the sound of your name. Kou aloha mau loa e
Ka’iulani…Our love for you forever will remain… Precious flower in the
misty rain…"
New books about or including references to the Princess’ life have been appearing
with increasing frequency, and old ones are being revised or reprinted; the
Princess’ tragic story has inspired Russian poetry, and even a major work of
science-fiction. Her own words in defense of her country have been rediscovered and
now serve as inspiration to a new generation exploring means to insure cultural survival
and the correction of wrongs done a sovereign nation.
Paintings depicting the cherished Scottish-Hawaiian princess are everywhere in the
Islands…found in schools, hotels and even dress-shops (a famous fashion-line is named
for her); a mural of Ka’iulani and Stevenson discussing Scotland under the
‘Ainahau banyan (by noted artist and Ka’iulani admirer Niki Fuller) graces a
wall in Honolulu’s St. Francis Hospice…a gift of the artist in memory of her
mother. The Princess has been immortalized in everything from a life-sized wax
figure to delicate porcelain statuettes; china plates, music boxes, champagne flutes,
diamond-studded cameo brooches, and commemorative coins have carried her image. And
while nothing remains of the 10-acre botanical wonderland that Archibald Cleghorn (known
as Hawai'i’s "Father of Parks") labored long years to perfect (his
gift of it to the new "Territory" of Hawai'i - in hopes it would remain a
perpetual park to his daughter’s memory - was rejected)…signs of the rebirth of
a "spirit of place" are beginning to appear in overbuilt Waikiki: in October of
1999 a heroic-sized statue of Ka’iulani feeding one of her peacocks made its debut on
a small revitalized parcel of the old ‘Ainahau property, to henceforth educate
visitors and residents alike about the Princess’ life.
Perhaps the most intriguing and complex artistic homage paid to the Crown Princess in
recent years was that of "Ka’iulani: A Cantata for the Theatre"…a
production of Honolulu’s prestigious multicultural theatre company, Kumu Kahua.
In this highly innovative and politically uncompromising modern play, the Princess
is portrayed at one point by two actors simultaneously…a woman of European ancestry,
and a woman of Kanaka Maoli. Having met with enthusiasm during its Honolulu, Los
Angeles and Washington, D.C. performances, the production traveled on to participate in
the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, where its theme of submerged nationhood impressed and moved
the Scottish audience…who perhaps found it easy to identify with both sides of the
Princess’ heritage…a resonance of historic injustices, and yet unresolved
political futures.
Despite its surface aura of tragedy, of promise cut short, Princess Ka’iulani’s
"story" is by no means one of failure or defeat…nor is it ended.
While most of her biographers close with that sad day on which the Princess was laid to
rest in the quiet of the Royal crypt at Mauna-‘ala, the tale of a subsequent
century of Ka’iulani’s influence needs to be told. Although justice for
her beloved people has long been deferred, a sense of her spiritual inspiration is
ever-increasing…both home in Hawai'i and in the larger world: from the
achievements of students at the impoverished but academically excellent school named for
her, to the installation of the magnificent new statue down in Waikiki, Princess
Ka’iulani’s name is gaining wider and wider recognition. That
Ka’iulani’s "Hawaiian-ness" and "Scottishness" are of
symbiotic importance is indicated not just by the note taken of her in the usual Scottish
cultural venues, but perhaps most tellingly by a document spotted on the internet:
"Huaka’i I Kekokia" ("Journey to Scotland"). In the
‘Olelo Hawai'i text created by a language student at the University of Hawai'i,
the heart-warming reality of the language’s rebirth (Hawaiian was actively belittled
and suppressed - even legislated against - after Annexation) is made manifest in an
account of Ka’iulani’s visits to Glasgow and Edinburgh, and…
"…ke
kakelo o Dreghorn. Ia lakou i noho ai i laila, ua kowelo ha’aheo ka hae Hawai'i ma ka
‘ale’o o ua hale la. Kaulana keia hale, no ka mea ua kipa mai ka mo’i
o Kalakaua i keia hale ho’okahi, a i kona noho ‘ana, ua kono ‘ia’o ia
e kanu i kekahi kumu la’au ma Dreghorn. No laila, ua kanu ‘o ia i
’elua kumu la’ua, a i ko Ka’iulani hele ‘ana i laila, ua kono
‘ia’o ua kekahi e kanu i kumu la’au…"
…which describes how Ali’i (royalty) were entertained at Dreghorn Castle (from
whose tower the Hawaiian flag was flown in celebration), and invited to plant some very
special trees. Whether or not the tree Ka’iulani planted in Scotland survives,
the spirit of the Scottish-Hawaiian Rose will live forever.
Mindi Reid
is a writer currently living in the Puget Sound region.
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