The Coronation of King Kalākaua, Honolulu

February 12, 1883

As part of a broader effort to shape the national culture of the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi, King David Kalākaua opted to hold a coronation ceremony on the eighth anniversary of his reign. The coronation was held on the grounds of the recently completed Iʻolani Palace in a specially constructed pavilion.

A number of factors contributed to the king’s decision to have a coronation event. In part the motivation for the coronation came from the king’s experiences during his circumnavigation of the globe in 1881. On that trip he witnessed both the impact of royal pageantry in other lands and the prestige his kingly title granted him, even in far more powerful countries such as the Untied States and Great Britain. The royal coronation had the potential to tap into the power of royal pageantry as a means of strengthening both his political and cultural position at home and increasing the kingdom’s visibility among other nations.

The coronation also provided a clear image of how Kalākaua hoped to both develop and present the national culture of Hawaiʻi as a harmonious blend of foreign and indigenous tradition. The crown, the coronation ceremony, and much of the pomp and circumstance surrounding it reflected the royal traditions of Europe, signaling the king’s desire to maintain strong ties to the various countries the kingdom had developed relationships with over the past century. At the same time, the coronation ceremonies and the festivities associated with it had a distinct Hawaiian element to them as well. The most memorable of these Hawaiian elements were the numerous public hula performances incorporated into the official program. Despite sixty years of efforts by the powerful American missionary faction to end the practice of hula, it remained a powerful part of Hawaiian culture. The missionaries had, however, succeeded in tarnishing the practice somewhat. Incorporating hula into the official coronation allowed Kalākaua to publically push back against the mission faction, who also happened to be his most vociferous opposition in and out of the legislature. The king’s open embrace of hula, the popularity of the event among the population, and the inability of the mission faction to mount an effective response to the hula marked a clear cultural and social victory for Kalākaua. The coronation effectively marked the return of hula as a prominent and public part of Hawaiian cultural life.

The coronation pavilion still stands on the grounds of the palace today and is often used by the Royal Hawaiian Band.