Speaker 1: Imagine you're part of the royal family of the Kingdom
Speaker 1: of Hawaii. Ah paradise. Problem is, foreigners think it's paradise too,
Speaker 1: and they want it. That's what happened to the first
Speaker 1: and last Queen of Hawaii, Queen Lily Uo Klani, the
Speaker 1: last reigning monarch. I'm Patty Steele. Paradise Lost. Next on
Speaker 1: the back story. We're back with the backstory. Okay, it's
Speaker 1: eighteen ninety one and the King of Hawaii, part of
Speaker 1: the powerful family of former King Kamehamea, is on a
Speaker 1: diplomatic trip to San Francisco, but while there he has
Speaker 1: a minor stroke. He keeps pushing through with his obligations,
Speaker 1: and two days later he's dead at the age of
Speaker 1: fifty four. His sister, Princess Lily Uo Kolani, becomes queen,
Speaker 1: but her timing couldn't be worse. American businessmen in the
Speaker 1: booming sugar industry have enjoyed a ton of power under
Speaker 1: agreements signed before she took the throne, but she wants
Speaker 1: to restore power to the Hawaiian people through a new constitution,
Speaker 1: and that makes the sugar barons kinda nervous. But first,
Speaker 1: let's take a look back at her early life, Lily
Speaker 1: Uo Kolani hasn't had the easiest time, despite being a
Speaker 1: princess on a South Pacific island, which pretty much sounds
Speaker 1: like the perfect life right well, the islands had been
Speaker 1: ravaged by the arrival of Captain James Cook and the
Speaker 1: British in seventeen seventy eight, and later by Americans because
Speaker 1: of the disease they all brought to the islands. The
Speaker 1: native population went from as many as eight hundred thousand
Speaker 1: in seventeen seventy eight to just forty thousand in one
Speaker 1: hundred years. Anyway, as a little girl, Lily Uo Koalani
Speaker 1: meets John Owen Dominies, who'd been born in New York
Speaker 1: but whose parents moved to Hawaii when he was five
Speaker 1: years old. His mother was active in business and various charities,
Speaker 1: especially after John's sea captain father was lost at sea.
Speaker 1: As John and Lily Uocolani grew up, a romance evolved,
Speaker 1: although it seems it was as much about the benefits
Speaker 1: John would get by marrying a princess as it was
Speaker 1: about a love match. He was given numerous titles and
Speaker 1: launched a busy business and social life. In which he
Speaker 1: didn't always include his wife, but the pair did become
Speaker 1: good friends, even if it wasn't the romance the princess
Speaker 1: hoped for now. On top of that, John's mother, despite
Speaker 1: her charitable involvement with Island children, turned out to be
Speaker 1: a bit of a racist. She was distressed that her
Speaker 1: son was marrying a non Caucasian, but she did come
Speaker 1: around realizing the opportunities that marriage would provide for her son.
Speaker 1: In her autobiography, Lily Uo Kolani says that her mother
Speaker 1: in law considered her an intruder in their world, but
Speaker 1: she does say later in life she came to appreciate
Speaker 1: the princess and became much more affectionate to her. But
Speaker 1: there was another problem for the princess. She wanted children,
Speaker 1: as did her husband, but she wasn't able to get pregnant.
Speaker 1: John saw that as a free pass to take a
Speaker 1: long string of lovers, which was a constant upset for her. Eventually,
Speaker 1: he had a baby boy with a household servant. Amazingly,
Speaker 1: Lily Uo Kalani not only had learned to accept her
Speaker 1: husband's wandering eye and other body parts, but she was
Speaker 1: also anxious to protect him from scandal since he was
Speaker 1: now the Royal Governor of Maui. At first, she was
Speaker 1: even willing to pretend the baby was her own and
Speaker 1: make him heir to the throne, but she realized that
Speaker 1: would be illegal since he wasn't part of the royal bloodline. Instead,
Speaker 1: the baby was raised by his grandmother, although financially supported
Speaker 1: by Lily Uo Koalani. Years later, long after the death
Speaker 1: of her husband, she adopted the boy and named him
Speaker 1: John Emoku Dominis after his father. Now in the midst
Speaker 1: of all of this was lily Uo Kolani's rise to
Speaker 1: the throne in early eighteen nine ninety one. But again
Speaker 1: tragedy strikes for her when just seven months later, John dies.
Speaker 1: Some suspected that without him by her side, Lily Uo
Speaker 1: Kolani would be more easily overthrown, which may have been
Speaker 1: the case, although he'd been ill for a while. The
Speaker 1: death of her husband, despite his unfaithfulness, broke her heart.
Speaker 1: She said, his long experience in public life, his kindness
Speaker 1: and popularity would have made him an irreplaceable adviser for me.
Speaker 1: He has taken it precisely the time I most needed
Speaker 1: his counsel and companionship. Add to that the turmoil with
Speaker 1: American business interests, and she's got a lot on her plate.
Speaker 1: Now it's eighteen ninety three, and with the support of
Speaker 1: the US Minister, a group of businessmen and sugar planters,
Speaker 1: backed by US Marines take to the streets of Honolulu.
Speaker 1: Lily Uo Kalani worries about the threat to her people,
Speaker 1: and she steps aside. In eighteen nine ninety five, there's
Speaker 1: a rebellion aimed at restoring her to the throne, but
Speaker 1: it fails, and eventually she abdicates the throne. She's placed
Speaker 1: under house arrest, where she remains for over a year,
Speaker 1: working on her autobiography and writing songs, including maybe the
Speaker 1: most well known Hawaiian song, the now iconic Aloha Oi,
Speaker 1: a song that beautifully encapsulates the affection and pain of parting.
Speaker 1: President Grover Cleveland actually supported returning her to the throne,
Speaker 1: but it was too late. With the outbreak of the
Speaker 1: Spanish American War, the strategic importance of Hawaii as a
Speaker 1: mid Pacific naval base became undeniable to American interests. The
Speaker 1: kingdom was lost, and Hawaii was annexed to the US
Speaker 1: in eighteen ninety eight. When the flag of the Republic
Speaker 1: of Hawaii was lowered and the flag of the United
Speaker 1: States was raised in its place. Lily Uokalani spent years
Speaker 1: in Washington, d c. Fighting for the return of her kingdom,
Speaker 1: almost until her death at her home in Hawaii in
Speaker 1: nineteen seventeen at the age of seventy nine. But the
Speaker 1: powerful owners of Hawaii's sugar and pineapple plantations had won out,
Speaker 1: and Hawaii became the fiftieth state to join the United
Speaker 1: States in nineteen fifty nine. The queen's struggle wasn't just
Speaker 1: about power. It was about identity, culture, and the right
Speaker 1: of a group of people to govern themselves. Lily Uocolani's
Speaker 1: paradise fell to a world made smaller by transportation and
Speaker 1: by greed for the abundance in beauty that is Hawaii,
Speaker 1: but her legacy is not one of defeat, but of
Speaker 1: resilience and unwavering love for her land and her people.
Speaker 1: Hope you're enjoying the backstory with Patty Steele and that
Speaker 1: you will please subscribe And if there's a story you'd
Speaker 1: like me to dig into, just dm me on Facebook
Speaker 1: at Patty Steele or on Instagram at real Patty Steele.
Speaker 1: I'm Patty Steele. The Backstories a production of iHeartMedia, Premiere Networks,
Speaker 1: the Elvis Durand Group, and Steel Trap Productions. Our producer
Speaker 1: is Doug Fraser. Our writer Jake Kushner. We have new
Speaker 1: episodes every Tuesday and Friday. Feel free to reach out
Speaker 1: to me with comments and even story suggestions on Instagram
Speaker 1: at Real Patty Steele and on Facebook at Patty Steele.
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening to the Backstory with Patty Steele, the
Speaker 1: pieces of history you didn't know you needed to know.