Likelike (; Miriam Likelike Kekāuluohi Keahelapalapa Kapili; January 13, 1851February 2, 1887) was a princess of the Hawaiian Kingdom and member of the reigning House of Kalākaua. She was born in Honolulu, on the island of Oʻahu. Likelike's parents were Analea Keohokālole and Caesar Kapaʻakea, and the family were members of the aliʻi class of the Hawaiian nobility. Before the age of six, she was raised on the island of Hawaii for her health. Likelike later returned to Honolulu, where she was educated by Roman Catholic and Congregationalist teachers in the city's girls' schools.

She married Scottish businessman Archibald Scott Cleghorn in 1870 and was the mother of Princess Kaʻiulani, the last heir to the throne before the 1893 overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom. Likelike was the first mistress of the ʻĀinahau estate, which became associated with her daughter. She was Governor of the island of Hawaii from 1879 to 1880 and was in the line of succession to the throne after her sister, Liliʻuokalani. Likelike died under mysterious circumstances in 1887, with rumors that she was malevolently "prayed" to death. She and her siblings are recognized 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.

Early life and family

Likelike was born on January 13, 1851, in Honolulu on the island of Oʻahu, to Analea Keohokālole and Caesar Kapaʻakea. Her full name was Miriam Likelike Kekāuluohi Keahelapalapa Kapili. Two of her namesakes were Likelike (an earlier Hawaiian chiefess and wife of Kalanimoku) and Miriam Auhea Kekāuluohi, Kuhina Nui (premier) and the mother of King Lunalilo (r. 1873–74).

Her parents were political advisors to King Kamehameha III (r. 1825–54) and later to his successor, Kamehameha IV (r. 1855–64). Likelike's mother was the daughter of ʻAikanaka and Kamaʻeokalani, and her father was the son of Kamanawa II (half-brother of ʻAikanaka) and Kamokuiki. Their family belonged to the aliʻi class of Hawaiian nobility and were collateral relatives of the reigning House of Kamehameha, descended from the 18th-century aliʻi nui (supreme monarch) Keaweʻīkekahialiʻiokamoku. Likelike was descended from Keaweaheulu and Kameʻeiamoku, two of the five royal counselors of Kamehameha I (r. 1782–1819) during his conquest of the Hawaiian Kingdom. Kameʻeiamoku, her parents' grandfather, was depicted with his royal twin Kamanawa on the Hawaiian coat of arms.

The youngest daughter and penultimate child of a large family, her biological siblings included James Kaliokalani, David Kalākaua, Liliʻuokalani, Anna Kaʻiulani, Kaʻiminaʻauao, and William Pitt Leleiohoku II. They were hānai (adopted) by other family members. The Hawaiian custom of hānai is an informal form of adoption in extended families.

Because Likelike was not healthy as a child, she was sent to live in the dry climate of Kona on the island of Hawaii.

Public life

After his accession, Likelike's brother Kalākaua bestowed royal titles and ranks upon her and their siblings: sisters became Princess Lydia Kamakaʻeha Dominis (Liliʻuokalani) and Princess Miriam Likelike Cleghorn and their brother became Prince William Pitt Leleiohoku. The latter was also named heir to the Hawaiian throne, as Kalākaua and Queen Kapiʻolani had no children of their own.

After Leleiohoku's death on April 9, 1877, Kalākaua proclaimed Liliʻuokalani heir apparent to the throne. Likelike and her daughter were next in the line of succession. Kalākaua bestowed the title of Princess of the Kingdom on Likelike by letters patent on February 10, 1883, also recognizing other members of his family who been using their courtesy titles since 1873. She was ranked in precedence behind the king and queen, Queen Dowager Emma and Liliʻuokalani and her husband, John Owen Dominis, and ranked above her husband and their daughter Princess Kaʻiulani. Likelike participated in Kalākaua's coronation, nine years into his reign, on February 12, 1883. She wore "a robe of brocaded white satin trimmed with pearls and feathers" ordered from San Francisco, and was waited on by sisters Clara and Lizzie Coney.

thumb|alt=White stone monument to Captain Cook|The Cook Monument at Kealakekua Bay

The Cook Monument, an obelisk commemorating Captain James Cook's landing on the Hawaiian Islands, was unveiled in November 1874 at the place where he was killed. Great Britain and the United States were seen at the time seen as allies who prevented Russia from seizing the kingdom. On January 26, 1877, Likelike and Cleghorn deeded their land at the Cook Monument at Kealakekua Bay in trust to the British Commissioner to Hawaii James Hay Wodehouse and his subsequent heirs for one dollar "to keep and maintain" the monument. Although the deed names Likelike and her husband, its only signatory was Cleghorn's. Because of the deed's wording, Wodehouse and his heirs (not the British government) became owners of the land. The error was not discovered until 1939, when the Wodehouse estate conveyed the deed to the British government for $1.

Governorship

Governor Samuel Kipi died in office on March 11, 1879. Likelike was appointed his successor on March 29, and held the position until September 2, 1880. Her first official meeting as governor was at the Hilo courthouse on May 31. The island of Hawaii was no stranger to a female governor, since Princess Keʻelikōlani (Kaʻiulani's godmother) had held the position from 1855 to 1874. During her tenure, Likelike visited all of the island's districts and had a special affinity for Kona and Hilo. She had resigned her position by September 1880, and Princess Victoria Kinoiki Kekaulike (Queen Kapiʻolani's younger sister) was appointed her successor on September 2 of that year. The 1882 legislative session increased her annual salary to $12,000 and appropriate $5,000 for her seven year-old daughter Princess Kaʻiulani.

Philanthropy

Likelike was involved in a number of philanthropic projects. On February 19, 1874, she created and organized the Hui Hooulu a Hoola La Hui of Kalakaua I, a charity of which she was its first president. Organized one week after her brother's ascension to the throne, it took its name from his motto ("Hoʻoulu Lāhui"; "to increase, restore, re-establish and advance the lāhui [people]"). The organization provided assistance for the needy, including financial help, clothing, medical care or shelter, food, and family burials. Likelike helped her sister to found the Liliʻuokalani Educational Society, an organization "to interest the Hawaiian ladies in the proper training of young girls of their own race whose parents would be unable to give them advantages by which they would be prepared for the duties of life", in 1886. She led one division of the organization, and Liliʻuokalani led the other. It supported the education of Hawaiian girls at Likelike's alma mater, Kawaiahaʻo Seminary for Girls, and Kamehameha School. After Likelike's death, Liliʻuokalani assumed full leadership of the organization.

Travels to Australia and the United States

Likelike traveled abroad three times during her marriage. She visited Auckland, Sydney and Melbourne from August to December 1871 with her husband on their extended honeymoon, and met colonial governors and officials. In 1877, mourning the death of her brother Leleiohoku, she traveled to San Francisco for her health and returned to Honolulu on the steamer Likelike on its first voyage between California and Hawaii. In mid-January 1887, a large school of red āweoweo fish was seen off the coast of the island of Hawaii, an omen in native Hawaiian beliefs that foretold the death of a member of royalty. At 5:15 p.m. on February 2, 1887, Likelike died of unknown causes at age 36.

Rumors circulated in Hawaii's Euro-American (haole) community that she had died of fear due to superstition or had been "prayed" to death by a powerful kahuna ʻanāʻanā, or that she sacrificed her life to the goddess Pele to stop the 1887 eruption of Mauna Loa. According to her medical advisors however, they stated that "If Princess Likelike had taken sufficient nourishment there was no reason why she should not have recovered strength."

The funeral was held in the throne room on Sunday, February 27. The kāhili bearers had waved continuously since February 3, and "no hula had marred the solemnity". Likelike was buried in the Royal Mausoleum at Mauna ʻAla. Her coffin was placed at the head of the main mausoleum, in the center of a row of other coffins. Photographers and a sketch artist recorded the event.

The two sisters founded a royal choral group, Hui Himeni Kaohuokalani (the Kaohuokalani Singing Club or Kaohuokalani Singing Association), early in their brother's reign. They participated in choral competitions with groups founded by their brothers. The group composed a number of kanikau (dirges) for the funeral of Princess Likelike in 1887, including songs by Liliʻuokalani and ladies-in-waiting Kapoli Kamakau and Eliza Wood Holt. Kamakau composed "Imi Ia Ka Lani" ("The Heavenly One Is Sought") as a tribute to Likelike at her death.

thumb|alt=Likelike's daughter, standing on a porch in a long dress and holding a hat|Likelike's daughter, Kaʻiulani, at ʻÂinahau

Few of Likelike's compositions survive, compared to those of her siblings. She signed many of her mele (songs) with the name "Kapili". Notable surviving compositions include "ʻÂinahau" (an ode to her home, where she composed most of her works) and "Kuʻu Ipo Ika Heʻe Pue One" ("My Sweetheart"), also known as "Ka ʻOwē A Ke Kai", which Kanahele said was "written for a sweetheart she never married". Other songs included "Maikaʻi Waipiʻo" ("Beautiful Waipiʻo", her daughter's favorite), "ʻAia Hiki Mai" and "Lei Ohaoha".

Likelike and her siblings are recognized 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. According to Kanahele, Likelike is the least recognized of the four royals:

Memorials and namesakes

Likelike Street, near the original ʻIolani Palace, was named in honor of the princess in 1874. After the construction of the second palace on the same spot, Likelike Gate (which faced Likelike Street) was named in her honor and used as a private entrance for members of the royal family.

The Hawaiian postal service issued one-cent, blue-on-green postage stamps with a portrait of Likelike in 1882. They were in use until 1894.

The steamship Likelike, named for the princess, was launched on August 2, 1877, from San Francisco and arrived in Honolulu on August 14. Sold to businessman Samuel Gardner Wilder and used for inter-island transport, it was wrecked in 1897 off the coast of Keawe‘ula on the island of Hawaii.

A window at St. Andrew's Cathedral in Honolulu was dedicated to Likelike by her daughter, Kaʻiulani.

Several places in Hawaii are named after the princess, including Likelike Highway and Likelike Elementary School.

Ancestry

Notes

References

Bibliography

Books and journals

Newspapers and online sources

  • Hawaiian Princess Miriam Likelike, Mother of Crown Princess Kaiulani