She was the bi-racial product of an increasingly hybrid society... An Icon of Two Selves: Remembering Hawai'i's Crown Princess, Victoria Ka'iulani The Story of a Mixed Race Princess by Mindi Reid In Hawai'i, the small, pale and fragile jasmine blossom is called by the same name as a vivid and grandiose bird: "pikake"- the peacock. The duality of this "Hawaiianized" English word is thought-provoking; in English, it is the bird - a visual image of color, shape, and texture that is evoked, while in 'Olelo Hawai'i (the Kanaka Maoli - indigenous native - language) it is the flower those syllables bring to mind - a matter of intense, emotion-kindling fragrance.
			But not only the flower will be brought to mind if you say "pikake" in Hawai'i; people will also think of the young woman who is responsible for giving this word its complicated spin. This double-meaning and odd inversion of emphasis shadows the life story of Hawai'i's beloved Victoria Ka'iulani - the Crown Princess who would eventually have been queen of her island nation had it not been purloined from its indigenous rulers and people by the greed-and-racism-based plotting of U.S. annexationists. For it was Ka'iulani - the half-Kanaka Maoli, half-Scottish heir to this Pacific Islander throne - who in childhood is reputed to have coined the economical/evocative use of one word for two loves of her youthful heart - the peacocks and flowers that helped make her home estate 'Ainahau a garden paradise. Her own name ("the highest point of Heaven") - like the name of these treasures of nature - raises powerful imagery and emotions itself, legacies of a woman as vividly beautiful as India's royal bird, and as quietly influential as the jasmine's perfume. 1999 marked the centennial of her tragic death at age 23. For while she is often called a "fairy tale princess", Ka'iulani met a difficult end, health shattered by the loss of her country - victim of an age in which people of color could often only stand by while their lives were manipulated and destroyed by those using their European/American ancestry as a license for conquest. But despite a life still mourned for its brevity and seeming lack of fulfillment, Princess Ka'iulani continues to exercise a unique influence upon people of diverse culture and perspective - in her Hawaiian homeland, and elsewhere around the world. She was the bi-racial product of an increasingly hybrid society - daughter of Miriam Likelike (sister of King Kalakaua, renaissance man extraordinary) and Scotsman Archibald Cleghorn; from childhood she acquired a global perspective on the place of her nation; as that Nation's future Queen, destined to assume a place amongst the cultured - and politically astute - rulers of the world, a British education was deemed essential. As a member of the Kalakaua dynasty, however, the cherished "hope of the nation" was equally aware of her non-European heritage: her Uncle was responsible for the first major reawakening of Kanaka Maoli culture in the aftermath of Western suppression - for the "rebirth", most notably, of hula - Hawai'i's fundamental artform and vehicle of spiritual expression. Ka'iulani - while growing up familiar with the fashions and technology of the Western world (she herself flipped on the switch that brought electric light to Honolulu) - was able to witness firsthand beautiful traditions only shortly before relegated to a kind of "cultural underground". For Kalakaua's majestic 'Iolani Palace was a locus for pomp and circumstance representing Hawai'i's indigenous culture as strongly as the imported conventions of the West. And so, while growing graciously into a "Victorian" royal of European stamp, Ka'iulani remained a true child of Hawai'i: she spoke her native tongue fluently (overjoyed to discover that fluency still intact upon returning home from scholastic and political "exile" in Europe), practiced the ancient arts of surfing and canoeing; played the new Hawaiian spin on stringed instruments - the ukulele; loved to eat the Kanaka Maoli staff-of-life, poi, along with raw fish; strolled through the peacock-studded shadows of her lovely gardens in the loose-flowing elegance of the mu'u-mu'u, wearing fragrant maile-vine lei or lei hulu manu - exquisite feather-work lei suitable to her rank. The haunting beauty of her immense eyes, the exquisite sculpturing of her mouth were hallmarks of the "pili koko" (the "clinging Hawaiian blood", as one elder puts it) - emblems of the soul within. But the Kanaka Maoli Princess also waltzed beautifully, clad in the couture of Paris. She rode horses and the new-fangled "bicycle", collected stamps, enjoyed croquet and tennis, sang in a fine soprano voice, played piano, read the Western literature of the day and longed to be an artist of "great master" quality - and hence both baffled and enthralled a press who expected the "heathen savage" of white fantasy to step forth from boats or trains when her political mission brought her from Europe to America. When Ka'iulani appeared, the campaign of racist anti-monarchy propaganda by Honolulu's white businessmen backfired; those who met her were forced to discard all their assumptions about the Crown Princess of a "dark" nation. She proved to be a glorious fusion of two different worlds, bringing a special honor - and uniquely personal glamour - to both. Despite the articulate Princess' efforts to defend her Nation, events at the end of the 19th century - an age of tacit imperialism and "manifest destiny" - destroyed both her royal calling and ultimately her life. She returned - plagued by health problems brought on by news of the coup against the government of her Aunt (Queen Lili'uokalani) - to a Hawai'i changed beyond belief; while she did what she could to mitigate the sorrows and poverty of her disenfranchised people (she was one of the founders of the Red Cross in Hawai'i), the toll taken on her at length proved too great, and she succumbed to possible thyroid disorder and pneumonia on March 6th, 1899. Even her political enemies were shocked, and grieved with the nation; "it was impossible not to love her," as one journalist remarked. And that might have been that. While few Americans know the true tale of the fall of the Hawaiian Monarchy, the appropriation of Ko Hawai'i pae'aina (the Hawaiian archipelago) by the United States was a fait accompli. Ka'iulani's particular story appears at first to be buried under subsequent historical realities, her chief "claim-to-fame" usually made out to be the brief childhood friendship she enjoyed with Scottish literary figure Robert Louis Stevenson. Her world is gone, or so it seems. The acres of botanical wonderland she once called home were long ago claimed by the bulldozer, covered over with cement. So why does this young woman matter - dead at age 23 a hundred years ago? Why does she persist in the hearts and imaginations of so many people? For persist she does, in a continual outpouring of artwork, literature, drama and musical expression that demonstrates how loved she still is, how much power her tragedy yet exerts over those meeting up with it. Whether of haole, Kanaka Maoli, or Asian ancestry, whether American-born or from some further shore still, whether privileged or still struggling for basic rights, Ka'iulani's admirers find something in her that speaks to them right now, that drives them to "tell her story" in the new millennium, make a place for her in the crazy contrasting landscape of riches and poverty, urban ugliness and astounding natural beauty that is Hawai'i, and in the wider world as well. In Hawai'i's hotels and other public places one may see countless painted portraits of "the island rose"; but you can find Ka'iulani's exquisite face glowing from a large pastel on the premises of a golf club in England (its historic building once the Princess's school), while in Japan, a gigantic mural of "Ka'iulani's Wedding" consoles the heart of a businessman: a mythical event entirely, commissioned by this tourist when he learned of Ka'iulani's brief life, and could not dispel his grief regarding her unmarried status at death. In all this portraiture emphases can be found to differ, intentional or no: Ka'iulani's "duality" challenges every artist; results vary widely (sometimes even within a single artist's body of work), from tee-shirt art mistakenly giving the hapa-haole ("part-white") Princess blue eyes, to a fully Polynesian Ka'iulani (by an artist with a Hawaiian name) for sale in an O'ahu antiques store. Beauty, youth, sorrow, unfulfilled romantic promise or injustice not-yet-righted: superficial perceptions (Ka'iulani the Decorative) jostle the complex (Ka'iulani the representative of a wronged people) as instigators of brushwork. The dichotomy is equally observable in dolls, sculptures, figurines: whether fashioned of cloth, porcelain or modern compounds; the variety of interpretation is greater than that of the media. Ka'iulani may appear with skin of milky pallor, coffee richness, or every shade between; she may be depicted in the peak of health, or as the Tragic Princess of the haunted eyes. Artists of differing origins struggle to understand her, or their emotional responses to her. The strange thing is - in these differing guises she somehow remains recognizable, is still Ka'iulani. Writers continue to give Ka'iulani new incarnations - both fictional and non, such reflecting the authors' biases or belief systems: her life has been the subject of a small-press novel whose author's Scottish interests manifest overwhelmingly in the fantasy story-line, and in the exclusive use of her Anglo name "Victoria"; she has served as a privileged-class foil to the angst of a impoverished Portuguese character in a literary short-story; an acclaimed science-fiction writer sympathetic to the Hawaiian Sovereignty Movement has introduced a version of her against the surprising backdrop of nanotechnology and cloning. While the fictional "Ka'iulani's" may bear fitful resemblance to the real woman whose history they borrow, even well-researched biographical treatments may end on personal notes validating their author's own ethnic origin, political views, or religious perspective! Organizations and fellowships, too, claim the Princess in support of their own cultural emphases: the "'Ahahui Ka'iulani" of Halau Hula O Ma'iki - a famed hula school - carries on its dedication to its founder's view of the Princess as spiritual role model for those dedicated to preservation of authentic hula; the "Celtic Drums and Pipes of Hawai'i" Scottish pipe-band website proudly posts Ka'iulani's image against tartan "wallpaper"; accompanying text enthuses about Hawai'i having the largest Scots-American population per capita of any state. But perhaps the most noteworthy public attention paid to Ka'iulani has come in the form of the dramatic production "Ka'iulani: A Cantata for the Theater", produced by Honolulu's prestigious multicultural theater company Kumu Kahua. Unlike most of the takes on Ka'iulani's life, the "Cantata" approaches the subject from a primarily indigenous viewpoint; from roots as a poem a modern theater work evolved, a work refusing to sublimate the anger Kanaka Maoli still feel for the loss of their country, and the Crown Princess educated to lead them into a century she wouldn't live to see. The play makes use of a forceful device - interjections from the modern world into Ka'iulani's brief 19th century life: at various intervals, a "Hawaiian college student" required to write a paper on the Princess voices her frustration with the project, her outrage at the standard perceptions of Ka'iulani, her contempt for what some admirers of the Princess think they see in her - the icon of beauty, or romantic "past times". With unapologetic grief and militancy this "student" makes the audience face the deeper issues Ka'iulani represents for the people of the once-Kingdom she was born to rule. Ka'iulani's life and personhood are dealt with inventively: from the solitary characterization of the child-Princess, her "British schoolgirl" teenage identity is separated into complimentary yet differing characters - the "two selves" of the culturally torn Princess - one played by a Euro-American woman, the other by a Hawaiian. These two - "Victoria" and "Ka'iulani" - carry on their complicated inner dialogue in the European setting until fusing into yet another, final Ka'iulani, the strong woman who makes a decisive return to her people, whatever fate may await them in the aftermath of the American takeover. Refusing to end on a passive or sentimental note, "Cantata" serves as an important counterbalance to less challenging visions of Ka'iulani's "significance". The Princess remains what she was during her life, both a lightning rod for and martyr to conflicting human aspirations, and paradoxically a bridge of potential understanding and reconciliation to representatives of such conflict. Out of her pain sometimes grows a healing influence: while she once was outraged U.S. soldiers dared come pounding on her mansion door, calling her "ex-Princess" and demanding she be photographed with them, now she would find members of the U.S. armed forces warmly in "partnership" with award-winning "Princess Victoria Ka'iulani Elementary School" (founded the year of her death), providing books and field trips to its mostly below-the-poverty-line students. In October of 1999, a bronze statue of Ka'iulani was raised on a small, rededicated patch of her former home estate. In the years ahead, her larger-than-life image will introduce new generations of visitors to this remarkable - to quote Stevenson - "daughter of a double race". Scottish, Kanaka Maoli; of ancient lineage...ever-young; beautiful...and tragic; woman of fashion...embodiment of spirituality; helpless...and unconquerably strong; demure...defiant; a warning from the past...symbol of hope for the future. Vivid as the peacock's plumage, subtle as pikake scent, Ka'iulani remains equally her own ultimately unknowable self, and the kaleidoscopic personification of all the emotions and creative aspirations she stirs in diverse modern minds and hearts. by Mindi Reid A Seattle native with lifelong ties to Hawai'i, Reid is of Scandinavian/Scottish stock. After years of musical (mostly Hawaiian) endeavor, she now devotes a large share of her time to her other love, writing - working on short stories, poetry, and the all-too-true account of sharing a townhouse with a melodramatic Siamese cat: "Life with Tom-San". Hoping to encourage indigenous, decolonized imaging of Hawaiian culture (as opposed to the Hollywood/tourism/merchandising version), she has written articles for a number of Pacific-oriented or multi-ethnic publications, and belongs to the Hawaiian Historical Society, The Friends of 'Iolani Palace and other organizations. Amongst her numerous other interests are Jewish-Christian dialogue and wolf preservation/ecology; for relaxation she enjoys sketching and reading Sherlock Holmes pastiches. Go to Urban Mozaik Magazine © 2000 Dream World Media./Urban Mozaik Magazine™ All rights reserved. The images and text on this website cannot be reproduced in part or in whole without written permission from Urban Mozaik Magazine.
Top photo: Princess Ka'iulani in the late 1890's from the Hawai'i State archives. Above: Statue, by Jan Fisher, of Ka'iulani erected in 1999 in Waikiki, Honolulu.
Photos below from top to bottom: Niki Fuller painting of the young Princess in Europe on display at Royal Hawaiian Hotel, Waikiki;The Princess in the late 1890's (Hawai'i State archives); plaque commemorating the place of the Princess' birth on the grounds of The Pacific Club; on the steps of her home at 'Ainahau, shortly before her death in 1899 (Hawai'i State archives); assorted Ka'iulani "collectibles". Current photos by Mindi Reid.
Whether of haole, Kanaka Maoli, or Asian ancestry, whether American-born or from some further shore still, whether privileged or still struggling for basic rights, Ka'iulani's admirers find something in her that speaks to them right now...