William Pitt Leleiohoku II, born Kalahoʻolewa (January 10, 1855 – April 9, 1877), was a prince of the Hawaiian Kingdom and member of the reigning House of Kalākaua.
At birth, Leleiohoku was hānai (informally adopted) by Ruth Keʻelikōlani and later legally adopted by her in 1862 as the heir to her vast land holdings. He was educated at St. Alban's College, a precursor of the present ʻIolani School. After finishing his education, he worked in the governmental Foreign Office and served as an officer on the personal military staff of King Lunalilo. On February 14, 1874, his brother Kalākaua was elected king after the death of Lunalilo. Declared heir apparent to his childless brother, Leleiohoku was expected to inherit the throne of Hawaii. He also served as a Privy Councilor and member of the House of Nobles in the Legislature of the Kingdom of Hawaii.
During Kalākaua's trip to the United States to negotiate the Reciprocity Treaty of 1875, Leleiohoku ruled as regent from November 17, 1874, to February 15, 1875. He died at the age of 22 from rheumatic fever resulting in the proclamation of his sister Liliʻuokalani as the next heir to the throne. Leleiohoku and his siblings are honored by the Hawaiian Music Hall of Fame as Na Lani ʻEhā (The Heavenly Four) for their patronage and enrichment of Hawaii's musical culture and history. An accomplished musical composer, Leleiohoku is remembered for composing many folk songs including "Kāua I Ka Huahuaʻi", which was adapted into the popular American song "Hawaiian War Chant".
Early life and family
thumb|150px|right|Leleiohoku at the age of fifteen, .
Leleiohoku was born on January 10, 1855, in Honolulu on the island of Oʻahu, to Analea Keohokālole and Caesar Kapaʻakea. According to Hawaiian custom, he was named after an event linked to his birth. He was given the name Kalahoʻolewa, meaning "the day of the funeral" in the Hawaiian language, after the royal funeral of King Kamehameha III which occurred on the same day as his birth.
Kapaʻakea and Keohokālole were political advisors to Kamehameha III and later to his successor Kamehameha IV. His mother was the daughter of ʻAikanaka and Kamaʻeokalani while his father was the son of Kamanawa II (half-brother of ʻAikanaka) and Kamokuiki. Their family were of the aliʻi class of the Hawaiian nobility and were collateral relations of the reigning House of Kamehameha, sharing common descent from the 18th-century aliʻi nui (supreme monarch) Keaweʻīkekahialiʻiokamoku. From his parents, he also descended from Keaweaheulu and Kameʻeiamoku, two of the five royal counselors of Kamehameha I during his conquest of the Kingdom of Hawaii. Kameʻeiamoku, the grandfather of both her mother and father, was depicted, along with his royal twin Kamanawa, on the Hawaiian coat of arms. Leleiohoku and his siblings traced their high rank from their mother's line of descent. They referred to themselves as members the "Keawe-a-Heulu line", although later historians would refer to the family as the House of Kalākaua.
The youngest surviving child of a large family, his biological siblings included: James Kaliokalani, David Kalākaua, Liliʻuokalani, Anna Kaʻiulani, Kaʻiminaʻauao, and Miriam Likelike. He and his siblings were hānai (informally adopted) to other family members. The Hawaiian custom of hānai is an informal form of adoption between extended families practiced by Hawaiian royals and commoners alike. Shortly after his birth, he became the hānai son of Princess Ruth Keʻelikōlani. She renamed him after her deceased first husband High Chief William Pitt Leleiohoku, the son of Prime Minister Kalanimoku. The English name "William Pitt" was originally chosen by Kalanimoku in honor of the British Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger. The Hawaiian name Leleiohoku means "Fled in the time of Hoku" and commemorates the day Kamehameha I died on the Hawaiian calendar in 1819. Keʻelikōlani was the half-sister of King Kamehameha IV and his successor Kamehameha V and served as the Governess of the island of Hawaii. She lost both her first husband in 1848 and their only surviving son John William Pitt Kīnaʻu in 1859. In 1862, through her second marriage with Isaac Young Davis, she gave birth to another son named Keolaokalani, who she gave to her cousin Bernice Pauahi Bishop in hānai just hours after his birth. This action infuriated her half-brother Kamehameha V who wanted the child as a potential heir. He demanded Keʻelikōlani to legally adopt Leleiohoku and give Keolaokalani in legal adoption to Pauahi. Thus, Leleiohoku became heir to her vast holding of most of the Kamehameha lands which only increased after the deaths of her half-brothers.
In her 1898 memoir Hawaii's Story by Hawaii's Queen, her sister Liliʻuokalani described the event surrounding the drama:
Education and early career
thumb|alt=Drawing of school from the 19th century|St. Alban's College, Honolulu, 1866
Leleiohoku was educated at the St. Alban's College established by the Anglican Church of Hawaii in Honolulu. Founded by Bishop Thomas Nettleship Staley and his assistants Archdeacon George Mason and Reverend Edmund Ibbotson, the school was located in the Pauoa Valley on Oahu. In 1863, the school was relocated and merged with the Luaʻehu School in Lahaina, Maui, established by the Anglican Reverend William R. Scott and later administered by Archdeacon Mason.