In the 1980s, at the Hawai‘i State Capitol, one senator’s office manager was working late into the evening. With her was her young daughter, while everyone else had gone home for the day. As the manager finished up her work, she awaited a phone call from her husband to let her know he was on his way to pick them up.
As they waited, her daughter said she needed to use the restroom, and the office manager quickly brought her. She didn’t want to miss her husband’s phone call, so she told her daughter to walk back through the corridor and look for the lighted doorway to her office. Several minutes passed, and the woman’s daughter hadn’t returned. She searched both men’s and women’s restrooms on the floor and then called security when she couldn’t find the girl. While the office manager was instructed to wait in the office, the security team set about searching the rest of the building.
Suddenly, the woman’s daughter appeared in the doorway, speaking to someone just out of the woman’s sight. The girl told the person that she’d found her mommy and that she would be alright. The woman rushed to hug her daughter, and then called her husband and security to let them know her daughter had returned. After closing up the office, she left the building to meet her husband in the ‘Iolani Palace parking lot, behind the Capitol building.
As they crossed the mall, headed toward the palace gate, the girl looked up at the statue of Queen Lili‘uokalani and exclaimed, “Look, Mommy, that’s the lady who helped me!”
Queen Liliʻuokalani was the last ruling monarch of the Hawaiian Kingdom. Born on September 2, 1838, Lydia Liliʻu Loloku Walania Kamakaʻeha was educated at the Royal School. She was fluent in both Hawaiian and English, and from an early age, developed a profound love and talent for music, composing more than 150 songs, including the famous parting song, “Aloha ‘Oe.”
The death of her brother, King David Kalākaua, in 1891 marked a turning point for the kingdom, as the nation faced increasing pressure from foreign business interests. Upon her accession, Queen Lili‘uokalani was determined to restore authority to the Hawaiian monarchy and sought to implement a new constitution that would return power to Native Hawaiians.
In 1893, the Queen’s reign was forcibly ended during the overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom by a group of American businessmen, with the assistance of the U.S. Marines from the USS Boston. Following a failed counter-revolution in 1895, she was imprisoned in ‘Iolani Palace. She was held under strict house arrest, where she spent her time composing music, quilting, and translating the Kumulipo to preserve Hawaiian culture. Despite these hardships, Lili‘uokalani carried herself with unwavering grace and dignity, writing and composing music during her confinement. She was known for her profound love for her people and showed particular concern for the welfare of Hawaiian youth.
In 1975, the State Legislature authorized "The Spirit of Lili‘uokalani," a bronze statue by sculptor Marianna Pineda standing tall and stately between the State Capitol and ‘Iolani Palace. The sculpture, installed in 1982, is a three-dimensional portrait of Queen Lili‘uokalani, wearing a sleeveless gown, with a draped sash. Around her neck is a lei niho palaoa. This lei, made of intricately braided human hair with a large whale tooth pendant in the center, was often worn by ali‘i and symbolized their mana and status. In her left hand, she holds three documents: sheet music for "Aloha ‘Oe," a page of the 1893 Hawai‘i constitution, and the Kumulipo, the ancient creation chant.
The legacy of Queen Liliʻuokalani endures not only in the history of her kingdom but in the deep love she held for her people; so much so that some say she is still seen walking the grounds of the State Capitol. One person saw her walking through the pond surrounding the building. Others have seen her moving across the courtyard. And others say that they have seen the Queen’s statue move.
One woman’s account claims that she was just walking along the pedestrian mall behind the palace to take pictures. Standing just to the left of the statue of Queen Liliʻuokalani, she framed her shot toward the Capitol building, adjusting her camera to capture the clean lines of the structure against the sky.
While trying to focus on the building, something kept moving at the edge of her vision. She turned to look, but saw only the Queen’s statue. She dismissed it at first, but it happened again. Each time she turned her head, the statue remained motionless, standing exactly as it should. As she tried to convince herself that nothing was there, she looked anyway, moving her way around the statue, ensuring that no person or animal was hiding nearby.
Finally, she shook her head and placed herself directly in front of the statue. The woman framed her shot with the palace behind the Queen and snapped a picture. When she looked at the picture, her breath caught.
The background was sharp and clear; she could see the crisp details of the trees and the palace beyond. But the statue… The statue was blurred as if the figure had moved the moment she pressed the shutter. It was almost as if the Queen refused to stand still, reminding anyone nearby that she was still there.
As the text on the plaque below the statue states, “Ola mau ko kākou Mō‘ī Wahine i ke aloha ‘onipa‘a ma nā pu‘uwai o kāna po‘e aloha ‘āina.” Our Queen lives forever with steadfast devotion in the hearts of her loyal people.
