House of Kamehameha - Kamehameha Monarchs

Kamehameha Monarchs

• Kamehameha I, "The Great", (1795–1819)
• Kamehameha II, Liholiho, (1819–1824)
• Kamehameha III, Kauikeaouli, (1825–1854)
• Kamehameha IV, Alexander Liholiho, (1854–1863)
• Kamehameha V, Lot Kapuāiwa, (1863–1872)

The influence of the foreigners took a toll on the Kamehamehas. Alcoholism and foreign diseases to which the Native Hawaiians had no immunity were the main reason for the demise of the Kamehamehas. No monarch except Kamehameha I lived past the age of 42. Kamehameha III ruled for 30 years only because he came to the throne as a child. He died in 1854 at the age of 41.

Kamehameha V named his sister Princess Victoria Kamāmalu Kaʻahumanu heir, but she died in 1866. After the death of Kamehameha V in 1872 who had not named another heir, the dynasty ended. On his deathbed, he might have offered the throne to Bernice Pauahi Bishop who refused, and died an hour later. The Chiefs and Nobles nominated William Lunalilo who became the first elected monarch of the Hawaiian Kingdom. He was the son of Charles Kanaina and Miriam Auhea Kekauluohi, a niece of Kamehameha I through her father Kalaimamahu, Kamehameha I's half-brother.