![]() ![]() The following January, Liliuokalani and a group of her supporters were arrested by the new government and charged with treason for their implication in an attempted insurrection. Despite his sympathy to her plight, the president’s efforts ultimately proved ineffective, and in 1894 annexationists established the Republic of Hawaii, with Sanford Dole named its first president. Wishing to spare her people a bloody conflict, Liliuokalani stepped down but appealed to President Grover Cleveland to restore her to power. After she attempted to establish a new constitution that would restore power to the monarchy and the Hawaiian people, a group known as the "Committee of Safety" staged a coup with the support of U.S. She would also be the kingdom’s last ruler. In January 1891, King Kalakaua died and Liliuokalani became the first woman to take the throne. While traveling, she learned that the king had been coerced by an armed militia into signing a new constitution - later known as the "Bayonet Constitution" - which effectively stripped the monarchy of its power and placed it in the hands of white American and European businessmen. In 1887, Liliuokalani accompanied Kalakaua’s queen on a trip to attend Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee in England. It was in this capacity that she demonstrated what would be her lifelong devotion to the Hawaiian people and first made enemies on the islands: When a smallpox epidemic on Oahu led her to close its ports, she was hailed by many locals but also drew the ire of wealthy sugar cane growers. In the years that followed, Liliuokalani did much to lay the foundations for her future on the throne, devoting her efforts to establishing schools for Hawaiian children and serving as regent during the king’s 1881 tour of the world. When her younger brother, William Pitt Leleiohoku, died three years later, Liliuokalani was announced as Kalakaua’s heir apparent. ![]() In 1874, Liliuokalani’s older brother, David Kalakaua, was named king. In 1862, she married John Owen Dominis, a government official and son of an American ship captain who had moved his family to Honolulu in 1837. Liliuokalani became a member of the court of Kamehameha IV as a young lady. She would retain her interest in music and poetry, producing more than 160 songs over the course of her life, including the beloved "Aloha 'Oe." As a princess, Liliuokalani's education also included travels to the Western world. Liliuokalani was educated at the missionary-run Royal School, where she learned to speak fluent English and received some musical training. Early Life and Royal Lineageīorn Lydia Kamakaeha in Honolulu, Hawaii, on September 2, 1838, Liliuokalani was the daughter of a high-ranking chieftess who served as an adviser to King Kamehameha III. She died from complications related to a stroke in 1917. ![]() Relegated to house arrest after annexationists staged a coup, Liliuokalani officially abdicated the throne in 1895. In 1891, following the death of King Kalakaua, she became the first female monarch of the country. Liliuokalani was born into a royal Hawaiian family in 1838 and was educated at a missionary school.
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