Lili'uokalani (2 September 1838-11 November 1917) was Queen of the Hawaiian Kingdom from 29 January 1891 to 17 January 1893, succeeding Kalakaua.
Biography[]
Lydia Liliʻu Loloku Walania Kamakaʻeha was born in Honolulu, Oahu, Hawaiian Kingdom in 1838, the daughter of Keohokalole and Kapa'akea. She was adopted by high chief Paki and raised a Christian, and she was proclaimed eligible for the throne by Kamehameha III. She married Oahu governor John Owen Dominis and was made a princess by her brother Kalakaua in 1874. She succeeded her brother as king in 1891, and she attempted to draft a new constitution which would restore the power of the monarchy and the voting rights of the poor. In response, pro-American elements overthrew the monarchy on 17 January 1893 with the support of the US Marine Corps, and the Republic of Hawaii replaced the monarchy. The sugar oligarchy held Lili'uokalani under house arrest at 'Iolani Palace until 24 January 1895, when Lili'uokalani formally abdicated the Hawaiian throne. With the outbreak of the Spanish-American War, the United States formally annexed Hawaii on 7 July 1898. Lili'uokalani would sue the United States in 1909 in an attempt to return the Hawaiian Crown Lands, and she was ultimately granted a lifetime pension of $1,250 a month by the Territory of Hawaii in 1911. She died in 1917.