Lunalilo

Lunalilo (William Charles Lunalilo; January 31, 1835 – February 3, 1874) was the sixth monarch of the Kingdom of Hawaii from his election on January 8, 1873, until his death a year later.

Born to Kekāuluohi and High Chief Charles Kanaʻina, he was of royal descent and a grandnephew of King Kamehameha I. He was educated at the Royal School by American missionaries and was proclaimed eligible for the throne by King Kamehameha III. After the death of King Kamehameha V, he was elected to the throne in 1873 by a unanimous decision of the legislature of the kingdom. Due to his popularity and status as Hawaii's first elected monarch, he became known as "The People's King". He died a year later from tuberculosis.

William Charles Lunalilo was born on January 31, 1835, in a two-story house made of coral brick, an area known as Pohukaina, now part the grounds of the ʻIolani Palace in Honolulu. His mother was High Chiefess Miriam Auhea Kekāuluohi (later styled as Kaʻahumanu III) and his father was High Chief Charles Kanaʻina. He was grandnephew of Kamehameha I by blood and the monarch's stepson by marriage to his mother. His grandmother was Kalākua Kaheiheimālie, sister of Kamehameha's favorite wife, Queen Kaʻahumanu. This made him both, a second cousin as well as first cousin to King Kamehameha V, King Kamehameha IV, and Princess Victoria Kamāmalu through their mothers: Kekāuluohi and Kīnaʻu (later styled as Kaʻahumanu II) who were half-sisters. Lunalilo translates as Luna (high) lilo (lost) or "so high up as to be lost to sight" in the Hawaiian language. He was also named after King William IV of the United Kingdom, a great friend of the Hawaiian royal family.

In the 2000 publication; "Kamehameha's Children Today", authors Charles Ahlo, Rubellite Kawena Kinney Johnson and Jerry Walker state that Lunalilo's father, Charles Kanaʻina was the great-great grandson of Kamehameha I. Kanaʻina's maternal grandfather, Palila Nohomualani was Kamehameha I's grandson through the monarch's first born child named Kahiliʻōpua, daughter of Kalola-a-Kumukoa, also known as Kalolawahilani. This genealogy is based on previously unpublished family trees compiled by the DeFries family.

He was declared eligible to succeed by the royal decree of King Kamehameha III and sent to the Chief's Children's School (later called the Royal School) when it was founded by missionaries Amos Starr Cooke and Juliette Montague Cooke. Learning to speak both Hawaiian and English, he gained a mastery of English literature and love of Shakespearian soliloquies. According to one of his cousins, Elizabeth Kekaaniau, Lunalilo was groomed to one day assume the Governorship of Oahu after Kekūanaōʻa's death.

Before the Great Mahele Lunalilo's holdings of 239 ʻāina were second only to Kamehameha III. As a result of the Mahele, he relinquished 73 percent of his land. As of 1848, at the age of thirteen, he was still one of the largest landowners after the King, inheriting the land and personal property given to his mother father and grandmother by Kamehameha I. In 1850 Lunalilo gave up another large amount of land to the government reducing his holdings to 43 lots.

Affectionately known as "Prince Bill," he was one of the royals (besides Kalākaua and Liliʻuokalani) to write music. He composed Hawaii's first national anthem, "E Ola Ke Aliʻi Ke Akua," which was Hawaii's version of "God Save The King". He wrote the song in fifteen minutes in a contest hosted by newspaper publisher Henry Whitney in 1862 for the birthday of Kamehameha IV. He won the contest and was awarded ten dollars.

Lunalilo served on the Privy Council of State, the advisory council for the monarch, from 1863 to 1865, during the reign of his cousin King Kamehameha V. He also served on the House of Nobles, the upper house of the legislature, traditionally reserved for the high chiefs, from 1863 to 1872.