When I visited Oahu last week in my volunteer work with a
Methodist women’s charitable group, I knew nothing of its royal
history. I decided to join some of the women from Gilroy and Morgan
Hill on a tour group as they visited an intriguing place called
”
Queen Emma’s Summer Palace.
”
Please note: As of April 25, Kat Teraji’s columns will no longer appear under the heading Take 2, but will appear under her column’s new name, Making Connections.
Earlier this month, Teraji reconsidered the title of her column and came up with the new title to reflect her role in the community and the content of her columns. The column now appears in Friday’s Dispatch under this new name.
All of Teraji’s old columns will continue to be available. They will appear under the Making Connections header.
When I visited Oahu last week in my volunteer work with a Methodist women’s charitable group, I knew nothing of its royal history. I decided to join some of the women from Gilroy and Morgan Hill on a tour group as they visited an intriguing place called “Queen Emma’s Summer Palace.”
I learned that Hawaii’s Monarchy enjoyed a relatively short reign, beginning with Kamehameha the Great (1758-1819), whose statue you’ve seen if you’ve ever watched the opening credits of “Hawaii-Five-O.” From the big island of Hawaii, he conquered most of his neighboring islands, and negotiated with the final holdout (Kauai) to bring unity to the island chain, becoming Hawaii’s powerful first king in 1810.
Emma was born Jan. 2, 1836. She was a descendant of Keliimaikai, brother to Kamehameha the Great. On her birth mother’s side, she was the granddaughter of John Young, a British sailor who was accidentally left behind by his ship, but who then became Kamehameha the Great’s royal advisor and companion.
She was raised by Grace Kamaikui Rooke and her husband, Dr. T.C.B. Rooke, a young English surgeon serving as the court physician. Emma was educated in Honolulu at the Royal School, and later by a British Governess when the school closed. I was surprised to learn that the Hawaiian Monarchy’s standard of living was more advanced than that of affluent citizens on the mainland in the 19th century and that the Hawaiian royals had conveniences such as electricity and telephones years before the White House did.
Emma’s portrait in the Palace shows a beautiful young woman with large dark eyes, hair worn piled high on her head, dressed in an ornate Victorian gown. In 1856, she married King Alexander Liholiho, who a year earlier had assumed the throne as Kamehameha IV. Two years later, in 1858, Emma gave birth to a son, Albert.
Due to introduced diseases, the Hawaiian population had plummeted from 350,000 at the time of Captain Cook’s arrival, to 70,000, with extinction a very real possibility. Queen Emma and Kamehameha IV went door-to-door to solicit money for the building of the first hospital, and she organized a hospital auxiliary of women to help with the ill. As a result, Queen’s Hospital opened in 1859. The queen formed an organization to promote the hospital’s services to native Hawaiians.
Tragically, her 4-year-old son, Prince Albert, died in August 1862, of some kind of fever. A year later, his grief-stricken father King Kamehameha IV also died, at only 29 years of age.
In 1865, Emma sailed to England to solicit funds for an Anglican cathedral and a school for girls in Hawaii. During her trip, she managed to raise $16,000 for both projects, an astronomical sum in those days. She visited with Queen Victoria, her son’s godmother. In fact, the two Queens had much in common in the experience of having become Queens at very young ages, losing their much beloved husbands all too early, and carrying on as leaders in their respective countries for many years after being widowed.
The object that fascinated us most was an elaborate bracelet containing a lock of Queen Victoria’s hair, a gift from the English monarch. Queen Emma exchanged the keepsake of a lock of her own hair with Queen Victoria.
Queen Emma died April 25, 1885 at the age of 49. She was given a royal funeral and was laid to rest in Mauna Ala, next to her husband and son. Queen Emma and her husband King Kamehameha IV were canonized as saints in the U.S. Episcopal Church, and their feast day is celebrated Nov. 28.
