A colorful story of Queen Emma

In researching family history, as well as Hawaii's history, I am often most intrigued by side stories.  Queen Kapiolani was one quarter caucasian, this much I knew already.  Her haole side was from her mom, Fanny Kekelaokalani.  Fanny was the daughter of John Young (a Scotsman who was accidentally left behind when his boat sailed without him).  Fanny's first marriage was to Henry Coleman Lewis, a haole, with whom she had a daughter, Mary Paaaina.  Later Fanny married the High Chief George Naea.  With Naea she gave birth to another daughter.  They named her Emma.  At this time John Young was ill and living with his other daughter (Grace Kamakui) and her husband, Dr. Rooke.  With his family gathered round, John died 3 weeks before Emma was born.  Fanny hanaied her daughter to Grace and Dr. Rooke.  

Emma grew up in the Rooke House on the corner of Nu'uanu and Beretania.  The 5,000 square foot house was two-stories and faced Nu'uanu Valley.  The doctor's office was on the first floor and the family live upstairs in "a style redolent of a British manor house, with red Kashmir carpets, mahogany and dark oak furniture." (wikipedia)  Sadly the house is long since gone and now home to one of the ugliest buildings in Honolulu- The Liberty Theater.

Emma (herself a descendent of both Kamehameha I and Kamehameha III) became engaged to Alexander Liholiho, the new king (Kamehameha IV).  At their engagement party "accusations were made, by a Hawaiian chief, that Emma's Caucasian blood made her not fit to be the Hawaiian Queen, and her lineage was not suitable enough to be Liholiho's bride." (wikipedia) Even Hawaii's beloved Queen Emma endured racism and was told she was not Hawaiian enough.  Fortunately Liholiho was not deterred and married Emma Rooke on June 19, 1856 at Kawaiaha'o Church.   

Of course Emma did not live happily ever after.  Her beloved son, Albert, whom the King and Queen both called "Baby" died at age 4.  They had take him everywhere they went and each year his birthday celebration was a state holiday.  When he died the Royal Mausoleum was built to house his little coffin.  On his deathbed he was baptized with the Queen of England as his godmother.  The King blamed himself for his son's death (one story has Albert contracting meningitis after his father used cold-water to quiet a tantrum) and remained depressed until he himself died a year later.

Lunalilo was elected the next king, however he died after a year and a half on the throne. Emma was so opposed to David Kalakaua becoming the next king that she ran against him in the election for successor.  After losing the election she eventually accepted him as King, however she never again spoke to his wife Queen Kapiolani or to Lili'uokalani who had supported Kalakaua and denied Emma's royal ancestry.

So there you have it.  One little factoid on a calender turned into a history lesson/soap opera.  Queen Emma was pro-Britian and staunchly Episcopalian, so it us unlikely she had much to do with any Thurstons, but what a fascinating story!

Note: much of this information came from the internet and wikipedia.  I do not claim it to be 100% factual.  Please comment with any corrections.