LIFE & TRENDS
Real-Life Hawaiian Princess Saved the Sport of Surfing
She majestically rode the ocean waves — but sugar barons sank her chance of being a monarch. ::
BY BILL HOFFMANN I
f disney is searching for a new hero to light up movie screens, it need look no further than the young
princess they called the Island Rose — a statuesque beauty and talented athlete poised to become queen of Hawaii. And while Princess Victoria
Ka’iulani would be cruelly deprived of that honor, she remains an icon to millions for one momentous reason: She singlehandedly saved the sport of surfi ng. “She was the last in a line of
tragic Hawaiian royals whose sovereign nation was usurped by would-be colonials,” said Jim Kempton, author of Women on Waves: A Cultural History of Surfi ng: From Ancient Goddesses and Hawaiian Queens to Malibu Movie Stars and Millennial Champions. “One silver lining in her legacy
remains: She kept on riding waves and in so doing saved surfi ng for all
generations to come.” The princess was born in Honolulu on Oct. 16, 1875, the mixed-race daughter of a royal Hawaiian mother and Scottish father. She learned to swim and took up surfi ng, a beloved Hawaiian sport dating back to the fourth century. Recognized as heir apparent to
the Hawaiian throne, Ka’iulani was shipped off to England — fi rst to Great Harrowden, Northamptonshire and then to the seaside resort of Brighton, Sussex — to obtain a British education. Soon, locals did double takes as they spotted a young woman riding the waves of the English Channel with ease on a big wooden board. But as Ka’iulani frolicked in
the surf, dark political winds were blowing through Hawaii, at the time a self-ruled, independent island nation. Sugar barons and other wealthy businessmen, fearing that changes
in Hawaii’s constitution would dilute their power, pushed the U.S. military to annex the islands. And on Jan. 16, 1893, troops
from the USS Boston invaded, overthrowing the monarchy. Ka’iulani, then 17, received
the telegram: “Queen Deposed. Monarchy Abrogated.” She immediately sailed to Washington, D.C., to beg President Grover Cleveland to intercede. “I was sent away to England to be
educated privately and fi tted to the position which by the constitution of Hawaii I was to inherit,” she told Cleveland. “I am now told [they are] asking
you to take away my fl ag and my throne.” Cleveland launched an
investigation which confi rmed the unauthorized takeover, but Congress would not restore the monarchy. In 1898, the United States
annexed Hawaii and two years later made it a U.S. territory. Stripped of her royalty, Ka’iulani
returned home as a private citizen. But her spirit was crushed, and she was in fragile health. On March 6, 1899, she died of infl ammatory rheumatism at the age of 23. In the late 1950s, as Hawaii
ISLAND ROSE Hawaiian princess Victoria Ka’iulani, far left, popularized surfing long before spunky teenage surfer Kathy
Kohner inspired a novel, movies, and a TV show in the 1950s and ’60s.
74 NEWSMAX MAXLIFE | OCTOBER 2021
became America’s 50th state, a spunky teen surfer named Kathy Kohner was immortalized by her dad in his bestselling novel Gidget, which spawned three movies and a TV series. Gidget is credited with triggering
the ’60s surfi ng craze that swept California and inspired groups like the Beach Boys. But none of that would have been
possible without Princess Ka’iulani, whose undying love for surfi ng saved it from oblivion.
KOHNER/KEN HIVELY/LOS ANGELES TIMES VIA GETTY IMAGES
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