Kalaunu St.

In the ahupuaʻa of Kalihi, which lies in the moku of Kona here on Oʻahu, stands a street whose name translates as “crown.”

We are speaking of Kalaunu St.

Over the span of the Hawaiian Kingdom, there was only one monarch who wore a crown.

Following his tour around the world, King David Kalākaua had commissioned a set of royal crowns to be made, one for him and the other for his consort, Queen Kapiʻolani.

At a cost of $5,000 each at the time, which is worth well over $300,000 today, both crowns were made of solid gold.

Jewels, emeralds and rubies were embedded with the King’s crown also containing a Maltese cross with a six-carat diamond.

Despite the extravagance in price, the King held a coronation jubilee where he crowned his Queen Consort after crowning himself.

The coronation jubilee is the only time that King Kalākaua wore his crown.

Following his passing, his sister Queen Liliʻuokalani became monarch until she was illegally overthrown by American and European businessmen with the assistance of the United States government.

During the time of transition into the Provisional Government, plunder unfortunately occurred at ʻIolani Palace.

On the day that the palace was being handed over to a new custodian appointed by the provisional government, it was discovered that King Kalākaua’s crown, which was being held in a basement office, had been vandalized.

Twisted and bent, someone stole its jewels and other precious stones while interestingly leaving the Queen’s crown untouched.

One member of the Provisional government army had been found guilty of larceny after admitting he sold many of the jewels for thousands of dollars.

His punishment: only 3 years in jail and a $500 fine.

The crown was eventually restored in 1925 with imitation jewels and today, both the king and queen’s crowns remains on display at ʻIolani Palace.

Did you know? Now you do!