Who's Who in Philately: Queen Liluokalani

Liluokalani was born in Hawaii on September 2nd, 1838 and was a sister of King Kalakaua. She ascended the throne in 1891 at the death of her brother.

She married John O. Dominis, an American Whom she had appointed Governor of Oahu, one of the Hawaiian Islands. He died in 1891, just prior to her ascending the throne.

In 1893 she was deposed and imprisoned but was later released but, although she tried for year, she never regained her crown. A republican form of government was established in the islands and an American, Francis D. Dole, was made President. In 1898 the islands were at the request of the people thereof made a part of the United States.

In 1896 Queen Liluokalani visited the United States and went to Washington to ask the assistance of that country to regain her lost crown but received no encouragement from the American President or Congress. It is said when she left from San Francisco on her return trip to Hawaii that she stamped the ground and said she cursed the country that was so ungrateful to her. She always blamed the United States for her downfall and never visited it again.

In her later years she devoted much of her time to study and wrote a beautiful anthem which was adopted by Hawaii as a sort of national hymn. She was a talented woman and although her reign was too brief for the display of any greatness her life was one to be emulated and her name will always be one of pathetic brilliance in the history of Hawaii.

She died at Honolulu in 1916.

Mrs. Nagalakshmi Tadakaluri, Philatelist.

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