Esther Kapiolani (1834-1899), a granddaughter of Kaumuali‘i, Kaua‘i’s last king, made her first visit to Kaua‘i during 1860 in the company of King Kamehameha IV, Queen Emma and their son, Prince Albert, at a time when she was serving as Albert’s nurse.
The royal party visited Foreign Minister Robert Crichton Wyllie’s Hanalei plantation, while residing at the home of another planter, Charles Titcomb, whose house was located alongside the road to Hanalei town about 1 mile downstream of the Hanalei Bridge (built in 1912).
Two years later, Kapiolani was Albert’s governess in Honolulu when he suddenly became ill and died, leaving Kapiolani grief-stricken and blaming herself for his death.
At first, Queen Emma tried to comfort Kapiolani by telling her that she could not possibly have been at fault since she’d loved Albert so deeply, but eventually Emma did hold Kapiolani responsible.
Much later, Queen Lili‘uokalani blamed Albert’s father, instead, whom Lili‘uokalani said had put Albert under a cold-water faucet as punishment for throwing a tantrum immediately prior to his illness.
Yet, Honolulu medical doctors and British naval doctors at the time could not determine the cause or the treatment of Albert’s illness, which is nowadays suspected of being appendicitis.
In 1874, Kapiolani became Queen Consort of the Kingdom of Hawai‘i, when her husband, David Kalakaua, was elected king.
As queen, Kapiolani sailed with Kalakaua to Kaua‘i that same year aboard the steamship “Kilauea,” making stops at Hanalei, Waimea, Koloa, Lihu‘e and Nawiliwili.
Ten years later, when her sister, Princess Kekaulike, died, Kapiolani and Princess Po‘omaikelani, her other sister, adopted Kekaulike’s sons — David Kahalepouli, Edward Keliiahonui and Jonah Kuhio, who was born on Kaua‘i in the area now known as Prince Kuhio Park.
In 1890, Queen Kapiolani established the Kapiolani Maternity Hospital in Honolulu, now named Kapiolani Medical Center.
