 On behalf of the people of Hawaii and the friends of Iolani Palace, who maintain this gorgeous building welcome this morning, this palace was built at the request of King Kalakawa back in 1882. He lived here, of course, and his wife, Kapiolani, and then his sister, our eighth monarch, also lived here. So you're standing on a very historic piece of property. This is the only official home of kings and queens in the United States, the only official palace. Here the Iolani is the high flying Hawaiian hawk, Lani is heavenly a royal. Royal hawk is the name of this palace. There was another palace that stood on the same grounds, but the same name slightly to the east of us, but nowhere near as gorgeous as this building. Monarchy entered in 1893, and a succession of governments took over. I can tell you from personal experience, they were not the best tenants because my business in the late 1950s took me inside the palace, and I'll tell you some stories about that. So in the 1960s, we built the Capitol building there. We kicked the governments out, or we replaced them into the Capitol building. And in the 1970s, we started the restoration not only of this building, but of the 11-acre grounds. Each palace cost $360,000 back in 1882. We've spent upwards of $15 billion in restoration. I think you'll find it. We did a good job. A coma mai, follow me please. This is the entry gallery to Iolani Palace. I think the first thing I'd like to have you do is to look around and see how beautiful this architecture is. Here back in the 1800s, most Hawaiians lived in Hale Pili, H-A-L-E is the Hawaiian word for house, P-I-L-I is the Hawaiian word for grass. They literally lived in grass houses. And labor lucky to make a dollar a day, you can see King Kalakaua, in ordering such a gorgeous building to be built, really wanted Hawaii to stand out. This stairway would have probably caught your eye. It's made of koa. Koa is the upland variety of acacia. The Bible tells us that the ark was made of acacia, grown in another land, of course. But the upland variety has lots of rosin. That makes it very hard. Indeed, those are original steps. You can almost imagine King Kalakaua coming down to greet you personally this morning. Now, if you turn around and look at the doors, the framing on the doors is a special kind of wood from the Pacific Northwest. The etched glass was made in England and etched in San Francisco. Both the center door is the coat of arms of the ancient kingdom. Very close to the same coat of arms we have now. The motto below dates back to 1843, the life of the land is preserved or perpetuated in righteousness. Hawaiians like to say, do what is ponal, do what is right, do what is justice. Now the poor chap in San Francisco had never been to Hawaii. He was asked to flank the coat of arms with a depiction of kalo. Kalo is the taro plant. Now why should that be important? It's because it's a very, very popular food of the ancient Hawaiians, a staple food indeed. But the poor chap in San Francisco didn't recognize the picture he was given, so he added some lily flowers. I think that's artistic license, if you will. Now the two giant bronze urns on either side of the front door were given to King Kalakaua in 1883. What was the occasion? A coronation, two week celebration, thousands of people came here and at the culmination of those ceremonies gold crowns put upon their head and later in this tour I'm going to show you those very gold crowns. But some of the, another occasion for a party in this place was 1886, what happened then? Well, King Kalakaua's 50th birthday party actually turned out to be a two week birthday party because his subjects kept sending him food from the neighbor islands and he was duty bound to handle it all. Now the portraits, starting in my extreme right, King Kamehameha the first, also known as King Kamehameha the Great because in 1810 he unified the eight major islands under his single rule. The islands to the east was Maui, Molokai, Big Island, the rest of them. His war fleets landed and defeated the local chief. History tells us that in 1795 over a thousand canoes landed on the south shore of Oahu, this island and thousands of his warriors fought across the dusty plain ending in a battle in New Uwano Valley just to the west. I read an account of that battle. There were 25,000 warriors involved in that including women. Women went to bell with their men at a time when the standing army of the United States was only 3,500 men. Then for the next 15 years he tried to get a fleet together to go to Kauai to finish the job, the eighth major island. Well first the pestilence kind of reduced his force, then a storm kind of wrecked his canoes. So in that year what he did was he invited the king of Kauai to come to Honolulu. And the king of Kauai was a very practical man. And he said Kamehameha, don't come over here and lay waste to my island with your army. I'll agree you can be the absolute ruler. So with that profession of fealty, now we have unification of the eight major islands under Kamehameha I, also known as King Kamehameha the Great in 1810. The lady to his left is Kei Kau Luohi, one of his 21 wives. He is said to have had over 60 children, but please understand this is before Christianity. Old system of Hawaii was governed by a pagan religion, a taboo system. Women couldn't eat with the men, they couldn't eat pork, they couldn't eat bananas. They couldn't participate in the political decisions of the men in the Heiaos. He died in 1819 and the ladies decided they wanted no more of this and they planned a great big luau over in Kona the west coast of the big island and what they did was they invited Leho Leho our next king to come and sit down with them. Well he was not about to do that because according to the pagan religion he was going to be struck dead. But gentlemen you know how persuasive women can be and sure enough they persuaded Leho Leho to sit down with them and lo and behold nothing happened. He was not struck dead and that was the beginning of the end of the pagan religion. Every next year however, 1820 came the missionaries from the east coast of the United States. With them came monogamy and Christianity. So when I say 21 wise before Christianity I'm really talking about 21 special consorts. Well if you had 21 special gals why we just have the portrait of K. Kalawoi. Number one that's the only portrait of its kind that has survived the present day but I'm going to tell you she plays a very important part in later monarch history. In 1819 he succeeded by his son Leho Leho, 22 years of age, had five wives but his favorite there was Kamamalu. The business of Hawaii in those days was sandalwood and one of the biggest buyers of the sandalwood much in demand for chests and closets in the Orient was Great Britain. So in 1823 four years into his reign the two of them sailed on a diplomatic visit and to see the world to London. Took London by storm this handsome couple. Sadly in 1824 they both died of measles of all things. Isolated out here in the middle of the Pacific. There was no natural immunity to white man diseases but of course also no modern medicine. But his death he has survived by his younger brother Alexander only 11 years of age at the time. But another wife of Kamehameha guided him in the early years later married Queen Coloma on the left. Rule for 29 and a half years the longest of any of our monarchs. Interesting things happened during that time in 1840 was the first constitution so he went from an absolute monarchy to a constitutional monarchy also 1848 was the great Maheli. And upon his death he has survived by King Kamehameha the fourth. Now a grandson of the original King Kamehameha he's married to Emma Rook. Now R-O-O-K-E doesn't sound very Hawaiian does it? It's not. It's because of a Hanai system whereby a child would be given an infant would be given to an auntie a sister a close friend to raise and the child would cleave to the new parents much more than the birth parents and she was Hanai to an auntie who was married to Dr. Rook. Now Emma's quite famous in her own right besides the fact she's married to King Kamehameha the fourth because in 1858-59 there was another epidemic and the two of them raised the money to build Queen's Hospital. Emma is the queen of Queen's Hospital. Now King Kamehameha had lots of children we talked about that none of these monarchs had surviving children. They had a young boy Prince Albert unfortunately passed away at age four they say Daddy died of a broken heart a year later ruled for about nine and a half years. Succeeded then by his brother Lot King Kamehameha the fifth a bachelor no wife no children a very benevolent death spot if you would much in love with his people passed the new constitution of 1864 ruled for about ten years and now upon his death the Kamehameha line is gone. So we have to resort to the constitution of 1840 which required then an election and the contenders were at that election Kalakaua but the winner was the gentleman on my far left Lunalino. He won the election of 1873 and came to power and was could trace his ancestry back to a half-brother of Kamehameha but he can do better than that his mother was K. Kaulaua. She was a very young girl when Kamehameha the first passed away lived to be about age 50 actually died about age 45 had seven husbands during her lifetime one of which sired Lunalino and he came to power in 1873 son of a gun he contracted tuberculosis ruled only for 13 months and passed away and 1874 we have to have another election this time Kalakaua again and the dowager Queen Emma but you know who built this palace Kalakaua let's go in and meet Kalakaua follow me please. Okay the name of this room takes its name from the color of the furniture the blue room actually this gorgeous furniture was also in the first Iolani Palace we talked about before Lillio Kalani thought the furniture was so great she brought it in here and did it in blue and so we've continued it what would this room be used for concerts tees meetings if this were an English manor house or a castle this is what you'd call the drawing room and probably not a coincidence because three American architects finished the palace they say one of which however was born and raised in England let me introduce you to your host this morning David La Améa Kalakaua won the election of 1874 and came to power quite suited to be a king under lot King Kamehameha the fifth that you just met out in the gallery he served as Chamberlain in the old Iolani Palace now the Chamberlain is the major domo who supervises his servants make sure everything runs smoothly for the royal family but in the process of course he learned everything that needed to know about government in those days the missionaries operated what was known as a chiefs children's school on the back of this property where the capital is located now and the Kalakaua and his siblings his brother and sister and other children of the Ali E Ali E our nobles went to that school so when they graduated of course they spoke native their natural Hawaiian language but of course they spoke flawless English which was a great advantage when you're dealing with other nations also before the palace is built where the royal family lived was in a bungalow right next door actually a fairly large bungalow called the pink bungalow because the latticework was painted pink that's where the royal family lived before the palace is built even after the palace is built sometimes they stayed there he kept an extensive library there very Ariadite man trained as a lawyer also as a land appraiser served in the house of nobles we had the British system of government back in those days very very Ariadite guy said to have had a photographic memory seldom forgot a name seldom forgot a face too you see in a photograph of the portrait of him that he's in a military uniform he loved everything military we think it's because his daddy ran a cannon battery on the seaward slopes of punchbowl which is just behind the city and the palace and to protect the mouth of Honolulu Harbor and they say even as a teenager he loved the pageantry and drill possibly even drill the troops and so he got a lifelong love of everything military now when he came to power in 1874 that sandalwood had all been logged off what's coming up as a new industry sugar but sugar needed a treaty from the United States so it could be introduced without having to pay duty 1874 the same year he was elected off he goes to Washington DC as I tell my school kids on my tour you don't get on United Airlines those days and get there in 12 hours it's two weeks sailing ship to San Francisco almost 10 days to Washington DC but he was successful he got his treaty it was a reciprocal treaty what did the United States get out of it they got fueling rights at Pearl Harbor this gorgeous strategic harbor in the middle of the Pacific he was also the first foreign ruler to have a state dinner at the White House think how many state dinners we've seen on TV his was the first 1881 he took an even more ambitious trip ten months 17 countries around the world started in the United States first foreign stop was Japan then China then India Europe had an audience with a pope visited England again and then the all of the grand houses of Europe I say that because back in those days each country in Europe was ruled by a king a queen a palace which means pomp and ceremony so it's interesting to think of the timeline 1881 is his trip around the world 1882 is the completion of the palace 1883 is the coronation I'll bet you he got ideas for the last two events on that trip around the world now gone for 10 months somebody has to be in charge of Hawaii so what he did was he appointed his sister Lydia Pocky Dominus to be his regent and thereafter she became known as Princess Lillio Kalani before in the fall of 1890 the king took what was supposed to be a very short trip to San Francisco supposedly on some Shriner business sadly King Kala Kawa passed away in San Francisco January 1891 oddly enough in the palace hotel age 54 having ruled for 17 years and now Princess Lillio Kalani becomes Queen Lillio Kalani before we talk more about her let's talk quickly about the gown the organization for which I am a volunteer which is the Friends of Ilani Palace is embarked on a program to duplicate 12 of the gowns worn by Lillio Kalani and Kapilani this is a duplicate of a gown worn by Lillio Kalani indeed if you will take a look at the gown and the portrait you will see that they are this is a copy of the same gown she wears in the portrait she's married to John Dominus John came to Hawaii age five his dad was a ship captain from New York and we're indebted to the captain because he bought a beautiful piece of property a block away on Baratania Street Baratania is a corruption of Britannia and the captain built this magnificent house her ancestral home we call it Washington Place another art museum today John grew up to be kind of an interesting guy he was governor of Oahu for several decades and somebody she relied on for advice and she needed it now Lillio Kalani had gone to the Royal School spoke flawless English but she had no government experience whatsoever nobody expected that Kapilani and Kalakau are not going to have children they did not nobody expected that he wasn't going to come right back from San Francisco sadly he passed away and all of a sudden she's thrust into power 1887 is a very interesting year but that's the year that Queen Victoria in England is celebrating her golden jubilee fighting rulers from around the world to come and help her celebrate Kalakau chose not to go but he sent his wife and he said his sister and off they went they actually sat with the Royal Family in Westminster Abbey high honor during the jubilee in their absence the local populace made him sign a new constitution they often referred to as the bayonet constitution because there was a little compulsion involved and when she came back and found out what he'd done she was a little bit disturbed because number one it had reduced her powers she could hire ministers she no longer could fire them but worse yet it had taken the vote away from the Hawaiians effectively because it said you have to own property they'd always lived on the property what do you need a piece of paper for well when she came back she had a she had a a petition from her constituents 9000 I think on the thing said why don't you do your own constitution why don't you restore our voting rights and so that's what she did in the January of 1893 she drafted a new constitution she presented it that day in this very room to her ministers they said your Majesty we can't approve that number one it's dictatorial it goes farther than any other constitution but besides that you swore to uphold the constitution of 1887 when you were sworn in as queen and you can't by yourself take and bring in a new constitution that may be considered treasonous books have been written about the events of those days but suffices to say that a group of American and European businessman downtown deposed there will talk more about that upstairs now the interesting person in this room is Miriam Lee Kay Lee Kay sister of Livia Kalani and Kalakaua she's married to Archibald Clegg Horn and a very smart American businessman their daughter is Princess Kailani cannot live in Hawaii very long without hearing the name Kailani Hollywood made a movie about five years ago called Kailani which was a beautiful travel log of Hawaii but did not contain much historical truth said she was sent to England perceived keeping know she was sent to England to be groomed to be a queen but sadly we lost her to a horse accident later let's go dying with the monarch follow me please into the dining room we have many accounts of what happened in the palace from newspapers and we know from that that there was only one luau held in this formal dining room they would normally be on the lawn what if it rained well what you do is you go downstairs and the lower gallery contains an excellent spot for many dinner parties that have been held ever since the chairs around the room the chairs around the table these three magnificent sideboards were made specially for the opening of the palace by the Davenport Company of Boston Massachusetts I named them specifically because later they also made the furniture for the White House now Kalakaua wanted the best now notice that the monarch's chair is in the middle of the table not at the head of the foot and that's because of communication if it took two weeks for a sailing ship to get here that needs two weeks for a newspaper certainly no computers certainly no television not even transposific phone so the only way the king could find out what was going on in the world was to have a meal probably talk more important than food food would be prepared in the kitchen below brought by a dumbwaiter a pulley system my school kids say why do you call it a dumbwaiter I said because it'd be pretty dumb for a waiter to carry two platters of food up two flights of stairs when you use a pulley system and so it would be served with a pantry and he would invite perhaps a visiting minister who had just presented his credentials maybe a businessman they say Robert Louis Stevenson ate at that very table the opera star in those days the opera house was right across the street and certainly whatever ship was in port the captain the officers would be invited and the king would find out what was going on the work on the in on the world food just so you know that nobody ever starved that particular menu that we have a a copy of from 1883 started with fruit then the three kinds of fish there was crab there was mullet and kumuku was a lovely goat fish and there were three kinds of broiled food there was beef there was brains there was chicken there was three kinds of vegetables asparagus peas and mashed potatoes three kinds of game there was duck there was pigeon and colea colea is the western golden plover that comes here on migration the king loved colea colea on toast is one of his favorites took a few to make a meal and if you were still hungry shrimp curry and chicken salad think about cooking that on now a roaring open fire on a hot day that's the only way they had to cook royal Hawaiian band might be playing for the group on the lanai certainly a string quartet maybe in the blue room you need a long meal you had a bathroom right here of course it was a height of modern fixtures hot and cold running water and flush toilets now the glassware on the table is from bohemia which today would be the Czech Republic now the king had the finest wine cellar in the Pacific but those large flasks that you see were actually for water so with so much wine with such a long meal the gentleman could put water in the ladies wine glass so they didn't fall asleep at the table or worse yet start to out talk the king these are the public apartments down here we're going to go upstairs and see the private apartments follow me please now we talked about the stairway the stairway downstairs is made of coa that's the upland variety that's lots of rosin the table you see in front of you is coa kou is the lowland variety of the exact same wood but less rosin easier to work so that's what the Hawaiians made their tables out of and actually their food bowls let's go in and take a look at the king's bedroom follow me please in the late 1950s I was a deputy attorney general for the then territory boy there was only 14 of us in those days I know somebody in the attorney general's office now I think there's a something like 180 but 70 years ago we were a much smaller government my job was Harbor board deputy I was the deputy attorney general for the Harbor board one young lawyer responsible mostly for statutes and regulations and things like that but the legislature met downstairs you've just been in those gorgeous rooms down there it's hard to believe that the legislature actually was there but it did but if it passed the bill that affected harbors then is the Harbor board deputy I was responsible for evaluating the bill mostly the economic impact then I had to write a report to the governor governor this is to explain bill number such and such I recommend you veto it I've recommend you approve it whatever the governor in those days was Bill Quinn much older than I am but another lawyer and I knew him well we were on a first name basis I didn't call them bill I called governor but several times he would call me on the phone and say Willie I need to talk to you about what you've written on bill number such and such and up those stairs in the grand hall I would come and into this room I would come this was then governor Quinn's office I didn't use the private entrance we just entered I went to the secretary's office when the overthrow took place in 1893 there were perhaps 10,000 different items in the palace I'm talking about pictures in forks and spoons and curtains and rugs 10,000 different things within the confines of the palace after the government took over Coppulani's executor started to sell everything off Liliacolani's executor sold more things government did the same over the years people would buy things from those auctioneers scattered the four winds and we've had a dickens of a time getting those things back but we have been lucky to get 40 to 50 percent of the original contents of the palace back if you take a look at the photograph that is on the easel that's taken of this room in 1886 on the far side of that room on the far right hand side of that photograph you see a round table actually that's a tilt top table look over there at the third window you can see the tilt top table back and in the far corner the blue mint and vase only four in the world it's pretty imposing Prometheus actually giving fire to the world and then the sideboard you can see that and then the inlaid tables now the two vases on either side of the room are recent acquisitions they were actually originally purchased by Kalakawa on that trip around the world in 1881 in Japan went through a number of owners and the most recent owner has donated them to the palace so we're showing them off proudly for your enjoyment the round table in front of you is not the same round table in the photograph we simply don't know where the one in the photograph is what we have in the room before you is what we call a period substitute much as the like the piano in the blue room they aren't original but they were made and used someplace in the world in the 1800s and we've acquired them and added it to the room for your enjoyment the bed is in fact an original bed from one of the bedrooms in the palace but it's not the king's bed we know from descriptions that the king's bed was larger made of black onyx with gold gilt but we simply don't know where that where it went the two feather things on either side of the bed are of course kakilis they're made of black rooster feathers they're symbols of royalty that's simply why it's they're on either side of King Kalakawa's bed they King Kalakawa's they're supposed to represent King Kalakawa's mother and father his father's name was Kapaakea Kaia in Hawaiian is white so if you look at those kakilis you can see which one represents his father the portrait on the far wall is said to be King Kalakawa's favorite portrait of his wife they were married in 1863 the height of the U.S. Civil War the cornerstone for this palace was laid December 31st 1879 her 45th birthday and certainly not a coincidence in 1877 Kalakawa consecrated that gorgeous park out in Waikiki Copulani Park also to his wife now let's talk about the poker table we know that it's original because if you open the drawers you see names and dates that go back to that period it's not in the photograph it may have been in the sitting room each one of these corner rooms has a sitting room off to the right but more than likely it was in the snugory where it's been photographed what in the world was a snugory jutting out into Honolulu Harbor the king had this magnificent boat house water level had water craft racing yachts and upstairs he had his favorite hideaway all night poker parties all night dinner parties historians have called it his snugory which I love and it kind of connotes what it was like and there was the poker table they tell a wonderful story about him playing poker one night with Claus Spreckles the sugar king as the evening wore on the king said got a little smile on his face and he said well he said I've got no the big Claus Spreckles said I've got four kings and he put down four kings and he reached out and he called it calls it just a minute Claus I've got happen to have four aces and Claus Spreckles took a look at the aces looked at his kings and he said well on second thought I should win the pot because I am really the king he was quite the kingdom was quite indebted to Claus Spreckles this angered the king it wasn't long after he borrowed money from London paid off Mr. Spreckles and he left Hawaii the now it's not a coincidence that the king's bedroom here and the queen's bedroom across the hall is on the north side of the palace because that's north why because then it is the northeast trade winds which keep us cool so if the king had something important to go to the next day the six foot windows would be all up and the shutters you see are designed so they would block the light but they would still let the air come through but then how does he wake up there's no clock radio been invented no alarm clock well maybe the system would have been that a servant would come come in chanting a holy a chant maybe about his genealogy or the events of the day but now the whole purpose is now you don't want to wake the king up paka ki P-A-K-A-K-I is grouchy in Hawaiian you don't need a grouchy king first thing in the morning so he'd be chatting very softly as he opened the first window chatting a little louder there and then full voice because I had to get the king up and perhaps he would have said your majesty I've awakened you but perhaps you'd like to take breakfast in the library let's go next door to the library and take a look follow me please okay they call this the library but it really is the king's office this is where the king would do his daily chores is where he meet with his five ministers almost on a daily basis this desk is an original from one of his residences royal orders seem to be the thing of the day monarchs like to give each other royal orders kind of a sign of equality and there's so many in the world look this is a giant book you can see how many royal orders in the world here's a four of the royal orders of Hawaii if you've done something spectacular for the kingdom he would have awarded you with a royal order the letters on the desk unfortunately Miriam Lieke Lieke Kailani's mother also passed away much too early the king composed a letter to all the monarchs that knew her to announce the death and the top one is a letter actually in French which is the diplomatic language of the day to the king of Romania which was the in that French and the second one is from the Vatican of course of Latin and the next one is from the American president English and the last thing is a reproduction of a letter to the king on from his subjects all in Hawaiian underneath the table is a spittoon my child my kids on my tour love the spittoon so far as we know he didn't chew tobacco but he did smoke cigars and perhaps the chewing of the ends that's why the spittoon on this right wall are mementos of that trip around the world and England unfortunately prime minister disraeli on the left had just passed away before kala kawa got there but he was able to dine with prime minister Gladstone notice the picture on the wall above the helmet that's Hastings remember the battle of Hastings of 1066 well that's a picture of the waterfront of Hastings back in the 1800s remember this is Victorian times ladies and gentlemen a woman would die rather than expose a wrist or an ankle so what she would do is she go to a bath house and she'd put on a costume that covered her up entirely then she would go in a bathing cart to the water's edge do her dip in the bathing cart back to the bath house and preserve her modesty the whole way 33 degree mason very very proud king kala kawa very proud of his masonic relationship i think one of the rooms downstairs has some mementos of the masonic orders that he he received while he was there prince edward will talk more about prince edward on the other side on the book on the desk one of them is legends and mists of Hawaii co-authored by kala kawa very erudite guy when he got to Paris in 1881 he saw a demonstration of electric lights that's so fascinated him he actually met with thomas alba Edison when he traveled back to the united states so in 1886 that 50th birthday party the exterior of the palace and the grounds were electrified then the next year in 1887 the interior of the palace was electrified four years before the white house four years before the white house my school kids say how in the world do you turn the lights off look at the walls no switches on the walls well the drill back in those days is the king would call or to his superintendent of the powerhouse we think a coal power powerhouse on the back of this property ah he was environmentally astute the wires went underground he'd call over and say i want lights off at eight o'clock and if you're reading a book you're going to have to finish your book by candle there was no other illumination now behind you on the wall is a picture of that first stop around the world in 1881 japan mutual admiration society the emperor of japan through this magnificent banquet for kala kala during the course of the banquet the emperor actually conferred upon kala kala the order of the rising sun the most prestigious order that japan had to offer well kameha meha was flabbergasted for about 60 seconds and then he invented on the spot the order of kameha meha which didn't exist and when he got the Paris he decided had it made and had it sent to the emperor pretty hard to get ahead of that guy i'll tell you another interesting story about that picture in japan now the king was always looking for another political alliance especially in the pacific but he was particularly taken with one of the japanese princes thought he was a fine young man he proposed to the japanese government a future marriage contract between that japanese prince and princess kyleini now kyleini was a very young girl at that time but a future marriage contract but the japanese government would have none of it said no but how interesting to think how different japan hawaii the united states and maybe the world would have been had that marriage taken place okay this is a work room the next room is a music room let's go in the next room the music room this is the gold room i think this is one of most beautiful rooms restored rooms in the palace but it really is a music room the hawaiians are marvelous musicians they not only played for their own enjoyment they composed kinkalakawa composed the lyrics to our state anthem which is hawaii ponoe which in english means our own hawaii and his sister liliokalani a very prolific composer over a hundred songs perhaps aloha oi farewell to thee is the one you would remember the most the portrait on the far wall is taken in 1884 and what she is wearing is her 18 queen kapiolani is wearing her 1883 coronation gown they say the designer of the gown had something to do also with the painting of the picture behind her you see a red and yellow garment ahula in hawaiian it's a feather cloak hawaiians used to make feather cloaks by putting sticky gum on the branch of a tree and snaring birds with red or yellow feathers which is the royal colors but plucking only a few feathers letting the bird grow to grow some more so it took decades sometimes generations to make a full length feather cloak if you've been to bishop museum and seen the feather capes those are the lesser chiefs the full length feather cloak was only worn by the royal family now another interesting thing about that is hawaiians consider manu and they and you the bird to be messengers from the gods bringing not only tidings but mana so to wear a full length feather cloak would be not only to surround yourself with beauty but to surround yourself with the mana or power of the gods the screen below is a gift to king kalakawa from the japanese council from 1868 to the turn of the century over 100 000 japanese came to hawaii to work in the sugar plantation followed by filipino chinese uh portuguese other races that's why when you walk down any street in hawaii you see a rainbow of faces almost all dating back to the immigration to work in the sugar the red chair in the right corner is the actual throne of king kamea may of the third who in 1843 said now the chair has been reupholstered but wait till i take you to the throne room and you see the 23 carat gold thrones that kalakawa ordered keep in mind how simple this one is the little table on that far right wall left wall is nondescript really but it has an interesting story we call it the iowa table uh a prinsko hill inherited that little table and the hawaiians are very hospital and gracious and generous to a fault almost and his wife his widow had a guest from iowa and she admired the table so off she went with it well when she got back to iowa she had nobody to leave it to so she left it up to the iowa government it ended up in the governor's mansion one of the early curators found out about it wrote to the iowa government said you know really that's an artifact of ilani palace can't we put it in the palace they said sure put it in the palace well in it came but then as we were working later was it ours was it alone did we have to give it back we wrote back to the iowa government we kept writing typical bureaucracy nobody answered our letters interesting story uh on a docent tour in this room one of was a teacher from iowa and was told the story that we couldn't get the title to that piece of property she went back and got her eighth grade class to bombard the iowa government i looked it up in the internet go give the table back committee and they said hey that table doesn't belong to us belongs to the Hawaiian people by golly we got it on a permanent basis and that's why we call it the iowa table the music box is said to be king kalakawa's favorite the box over here would be for liquor if he wanted to take his favorite liquor to the party that's what he'd do the tusks in the distance were one of the lavish gifts given to king kalakawa on the occasion of his fiftieth birthday party in 1886 let's go across the hall please the Hawaiian word for veranda is lanai not much used for speeches during the monarch period because nobody could make themselves heard but once public address systems were invented from right there in front of you in 1934 president roosevelt came made a speech planted our state tree and it was 1934 now in 1935 my father brought me here to hear surely temple sing the good ship lollipop from right there i looked it up in the internet 20 000 fans met the boat at least half of them were here on the grounds at that time she had to sing from all four quadrants i was up on my dad's shoulders we were both close to seven years old but she was a much older woman she was six months older follow me please okay we talked about the overthrow in 1893 two years later in 1895 there was a rebellion some loyalists tried to put queen lilioklani back on the throne didn't work out too well it was nipped in the bud then at first she was accused of complicity for taking part because some weapons were found in her garden in what in washington place and then they wisely realized they belonged to her husband then she was charged with miss prizen miss prizen means you knew about the the rebellion in advance and you didn't warn us and that's treasonous by itself well to make a long story short she was arrested perhaps on some flim flims the evidence uh january of 1893 and the next month october i mean uh february she um had to suffered the indignity of a trial in her own throne room and she was found guilty of miss prizen again i'm not sure of the quality of the evidence but and sentenced to five thousand dollar fine and five years hard labor hard labor she served in this very room commuted to house arrest what did she do she prayed she wrote in her diary i think one of the most beautiful hawaiian songs is the queen's prayer and that was composed in this room and the other thing she started is what my grandmother would have called a crazy quilt this is a patchwork of old bowl gowns so in an original form was very very flashy it differs from another ballgown of course because of all the writing ku is my or mine ha is flag i love my flag center section is quite deteriorated but contains a genealogy of queen liliokalani a named regent all those trips that he took around the world and then her accused of crime and her and well actually your ascension to queen and then her accused of crime and her imprisonment here she had two companions jenny k wilson was here during the week and another gal was here during the weekend she was here roughly for about seven months and 25 days and then parole she had to stay on the island for a short period of time but within almost a year from the original trial she was pardoned never paid a diamond fine eventually went to the united states and tried to talk congress out of not annexing away she was like her husband she wanted to keep or like her brother she wanted to keep Hawaii for Hawaiians but as you know 1898 came annexation we came part of the united states and then a territory just like Puerto Rico is now and then statehood in 1959 liliokalani came back to Hawaii left to be a ripe old age 79 years of age died in 1917 founded one of our girl scout troops join me in the next room please now this room doesn't have any furniture because it was a guest room palace was finished in 1882 and the royal family moved in 1883 the following year Kapilani realized she had a widowed sister sister's name was kei kao li kei koi kei kao for short and she had three boys and so essentially Kapilani said sister you've got no husband three boys we have this great big palace come live with us and in 1883 that's what came to pass the kei kao lived in this room and the three boys lived in what later became the imprisonment room there was Edward there was Jonah and there was David king kalakaua thought so highly of these teenagers that he named them princes of the realm now that's interesting they're not kamehameha that line is died out they are not related to kalakaua but of course they're related to Kapilani she and kei kao sisters from kauai are of royal blood because their grandfather was the same king of kauai who said to kamehameha the first don't come over here with your army i'll agree that you can be the absolute ruler now Jonah uh p koi took one of his middle names kuhio he was our delegate to congress when we passed basic legislation so march 26th of every year we celebrate kuhio day the eldest david david p koi took one of his middle names kawana koa and if and queen uh liliokalani thought so highly of him she named him her air in case she died in office she didn't die in office but if this were a monarchy a kawana koa would be on the throne and i know they're around because i went to high school with one of the girls now let's go back in time 1885 unfortunately in 1884 kei kao died and so these boys have no mother no father they're wards of the king and queen who loved them they were sent in 1885 to st michael's military school in san mateo california to further their education on an outing they go to santa cruz beach what do you think they see it why santa cruz beach nalu which is the Hawaiian word for waves they go to a lumber yard they make surfboards out of redwood and there is to this very day a plaque at santa cruz beach a testing to the fact that the very first surfing in the united states was by the three p koi boys in 1885 now in 1912 back from the olympics comes duke a hanamoko our famous swimmer and surfer and he goes to southern california and he starts surfing in southern california now those crazy southern californians think they started surfing but you know the truth three p koi boys santa cruz beach 1885 let's go see the queen's bedroom okay this is queen copiolani's bedroom and it's all done in red which is the royal colors queen also in this room is another one of those gowns so let's talk about the gown here in the room is a reproduction of copiolani's dark satin gown that she wore to the jubilee in 1887 queen victoria asked the ladies who were invited the queens to please wear something typical from the country from which they were arriving nothing is more typical in hawaii than hulu h-u-l-u is the hawaiian word for feathers and lo and behold the original would have had epaulets and ropes of feathers now 1887 in the golden jubilee i told you king kalakaua chose not to go but he sent his wife copiolani the lady on this picture on this easel and he sent of course his sister queen liliokolani queen liliokolani was accompanied by her husband john dominus he was still with us in 1887 lilioka copiolani was accompanied by kurtis elke a very very smart chamberlain of the day now take a look at liliokolani's hair the lady on the left i do not know what you call jewelry a brooch perhaps that's 159 diamonds two ruby eyes it's a diamond butterfly it's so ingeniously made their little springs in the wings so that when she walked the wings tended to flutter she paid 400 pounds for that in london priceless i have no idea what it'd be worth today one of the things you're going to go into in the lower gallery personal possessions of the royal family look for the diamond butterfly we got it back my school kids leave me like they're on an easter egg hunt the bed is in fact queen copiolani's bed as is the motto on the pillow kulia means to strive e canoe to the summit strive to the summit or in the vernacular do your best i think that's a motto for all of us back to the elevator and the throne room the peace to response follow me please okay this is the throne room the ceremonial center of the elani palace lots to talk about but here again are the gowns remember i told you the significance of who the feathers and the gowns in 1887 jubilee on the left is a reproduction of queen copiolani's peacock feather gown reproduction of course but you can imagine what a sensation that was when she appeared in that in london i'm told it weighed the original weighed 50 pounds and she wasn't a very large woman the gown on the right was one of liliokolani's gowns the chairs on my right are part of that original manufacturer from the davinport company who i told you later made the furniture for the white house as are the thrones now take a look at those thrones ladies and gentlemen remember that simple red chair that kinkamehameha the third head look at this twin 23 carat gold thrones now the upholstery on the thrones is original and the reason for that is at the time of the overthrow in 1893 the thrones were taken to bishop museum for safekeeping and then brought here during the 1970s when we did the restoration of the palace the structure the upright between the two thrones we call a puluhu lohu it indicates the presence of royalty well that's why it's between the two thrones in ancient days it simply would have been a spear stuck in the ground with a wrapping of tapa or kapa cloth on top but serving the same purpose warning to the populace don't you go past this point royalty is there probably very severe punishment in those days but what you see before you is simply symbolic the upright is the tusk of a narwhal which is a marine mammal and the ball on top just simulates what in ancient days would have been a wrapping of tapa or kapa cloth the two white kahelis flanking the thrones are made from the feathers of the Laysan L-A-Y-S-A-N island albatross carcassus ladies and gentlemen we didn't kill the birds in ancient days it is said that each member of the royal family had a kaheli in a distinctive pattern and color only unto themselves so when they went out in public to notify the public that royalty was coming the kaheli bear would precede them and the kahelis were so distinctive all you had to do was look at the kaheli and you'd know immediately which member of the royal family was coming behind the derogatypes are what i call giant lockets on the wall contained royal orders given to king kalakawa from other nations the six chandeliers are standing under here and the one you stood under in the blue room original from the 1887 electrification of the inside of the palace remember four years before the white house now the giant rug the giant rug posed a problem to the auctioneers so what they did they snipped it up it's a reproduction you're standing on but i'll bet you if you were here 140 years ago you would not know the difference and i'll tell you why one of the pieces from the original rug was found in a museum in takoma washington so what you're seeing today is almost identical to the pattern and the color of the original now under the glass case in front of you are the actual crowns used in the coronation of 1883 the larger of the two crowns was handed to kalakawa and he placed it on his head the smaller of the two crowns was handed to him for his queen well i've heard of an apocryphal story that queen capulani wanted to get all gussied up for her coronation so she sent for her favorite hairdresser who unfortunately provided a beehive hairdo and accounts of the occasion said she had a little the king had a little difficulty settling the crown on his head but it was accomplished according to the newspaper reports now the sword and scepter of power in the same glass case now you know he got ideas for that on that trip around the world in 1881 together with all the printed invitations uh all of this would have been manufactured made in london we estimate the cost in the dollar of the day between ten and twenty thousand dollars remember that's at a time when a labor was lucky to make a dollar a day now the three giant mirrors on the left wall are original you can imagine what sites they've seen weddings funerals but one of the things they would have seen is a royal ball two or three times a year the royal family would have a royal ball and if you were lucky enough to be invited you would have an engraved invitation delivered to your place of business or home and up you would come in your finery now the only way milady could get around in those days was walk horseback open carriage or mule pulled tram or trolley so to leave home and travel through dusty hon lulu and arrive at the palace in your finery what did she do she wore a cloak so the big room that you passed as before you entered the blue room the original cloak room your carriage would have come through the dignitary gate there are four gates to the palace the king street gate is the dignitary gate that's you the east gate is for the royal family it was a guard there to make sure that was true the north gate was for the servants and the west gate or ever gate was for the trace people that came to do business but your carriage would have come to the front steps a member of the household would have greeted you you'd been presented the king and queen and it wouldn't be long before the music would start now henry berger was our band master for many decades he always prepared a dance card typically maybe 14 items maybe the first one would be waltz by straws then line then fox trot by so-and-so and a line what was a line for no cutting in on the dance floor back in the monarch days you went up to the lady of your choice and asked if all the numbers have been spoken for and she said no nobody's spoken for number four well could i have that if she thought you were appropriate your name would be written on the four slot and you would when the orchestra played the fourth number you'd get to dance with a lady of your choice and if you were particularly good looking or the wife of a dignitary you'd have had a great souvenir kalakawa would have danced with you he loved to dance with the ladies two o'clock and no midnight you'd go across for midnight supper first and then back for some more dancing and about two o'clock in the morning the king would repair upstairs you'd hear the clatter of your carriage come to the front steps and you know your gala evening would be over hopefully with some great memories and this ends our tour too i hope you come back and see us thank you very much thanks to our think tech underwriters and grand tours the atherton family foundation carol monlie and the friends of think tech the center for microbial oceanography research and education collateral analytics the cook foundation dwayne carisu the hawaii community foundation the hawaii council of associations of apartment owners hawaii energy the hawaii energy policy forum Hawaiian electric company integrated security technologies galin ho of bae systems kamehameha schools mw group the schilder family foundation the sydney stern memorial trust volo foundation yuriko j suki mura thanks so much to you all