Kamamalu, Victoria (1838–1866)

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Kamamalu, Victoria (1838–1866)

Hawaiian princess who was kuhina nui (co-ruler) of the kingdom and heir to the throne. Born on November 1, 1838; died on May 29, 1866, in Honolulu; only daughter and youngest of five children of Kekuanaoa (governor of the island of Oahu) and Kinau (kuhina nui); sister of Alexander Liholiho (1834–1863), later known as Kamehameha IV, king of Hawaii (r. 1855–1863), and sister of Lot Kamehameha (1830–1872), later known as Kamehameha V, king of Hawaii (r. 1863–1872); granddaughter of Kamehameha I the Great (1758–1819), king of Hawaii (r. 1810–1819); never married; no children.

Born in a fort overlooking Honolulu Harbor in 1838, Victoria Kamamalu was named for Queen Kamamalu , a wife of Kamehameha II who died in 1824. She was the only daughter of Kekuanaoa, the governor of Oahu, and his wife Kinau , a kuhina nui (co-ruler), and as a child was given to John Papa Ii and his wife Sarai , who, according to custom, acted as the child's royal guardians. Kinau, died when Kamamalu was five months old, but before her death she requested that her daughter receive a proper education. Her dying wish led to the establishment of the Chiefs' Children School, in which Kamamalu was enrolled in 1840, along with the children of other chiefs.

In April 1850, Kamamalu was officially elected the heir of her aunt Kaahumanu , the first kuhina nui of the kingdom, and received title to large areas of land throughout the islands. It later became necessary for her to sell and lease some of her holdings in order to support herself. (The princess never married; her planned marriage to Prince William Lunalilo did not work out, and she turned down a later proposal.)

In 1854, when Kamehameha III died and Kamamalu's brother, Alexander Liholiho, succeeded to the throne as Kamehameha IV, Kamamalu, now 16, was named an heir to the throne (to follow Lot Kamehameha, another brother), and also given the title kuhina nui. She retained the title until 1863, when her brother Lot ascended the throne as Kamehameha V and appointed their father as kuhina nui. Kamamalu, who adopted the official name Victoria Kamamalu Kaahumanu, took her duties as co-ruler of the kingdom seriously and was considered a worthy

successor of her aunt and her mother. She was a member of the Kawaiahao Church and the founder and lifetime president of the Kaahumanu Society, an organization concerned with the ill and elderly. In 1861, Sophia Cracroft , an English visitor to Hawaii, described Kamamalu as "tall and large," with "a good deal of stateliness about her." Cracroft also noted that Kamamalu set a good Christian example. "Victoria is doing very much with her people to counteract evil influence," she said. Seemingly, the only controversy in Kamamalu's life was a love affair with an American merchant.

Victoria Kamamalu took ill at a party in Honolulu in February 1866 and died on May 29 of that year, at age 27. Her body lay in state for four weeks before her funeral service. She was buried at the Royal Mausoleum in Nuuanu Valley.