Legitimacy

Ka 'Ohana Ali'i Hoapili Baker  •  The Royal Hoapili Baker Family

Evidentiary Support for the Attribution of H.R.H. to the Royal and Ali'i Hoapili Baker Family

As it is consistent with transversal, international protocol and custom of Royal dynastic structure, the legitimate attribution of the Royal rank of Hawaiian Royal Heir consists of a proven relation by blood to the last reigning Sovereign of the Kingdom of Hawai'i. Observing the correct laws and conventions that shape the institution of a Royal dynasty, traditions followed by the Hawaiian Monarchy, the Hoapili Baker Family of Hawai'i are Royal Heirs to unified Hawaiian Island leadership, as they are related by blood to the last Sovereign dynasty of the Kingdom of Hawai'i, the Kalākaua Dynasty. The multiple royal and ali'i lineages of the Hoapili Baker Family of Hawai'i have been carefully traced back to the first archived Mo'ī (King) of Hawai'i Island, King Līloa, through the line of Mo'ī Keakealani of the island of Hawai'i, the ali'i of the House of Moana, Luluka, Kohala, Kamehameha, the longest reigning independent island kingdom under the royal court of Queen Kamakahelei, to the continued position of the highest ranking Royal ali'i after the Sovereign of the last Soveriegn dynasty of the Kingdom of Hawai'i. The substantiated historical facts concerning the genealogical background of Robert Hoapili Baker I, a Prince of the Royal House of Hawai'i, have been revealed in 2018 by well respected native Hawaiian genealogists, H.E. Douglas Brown Po'oloa Tolentino and the late H.E. Herman Helemano Lee, among artefacts of archived evidence revealing the true Royal rank of Robert Hoapili Baker I.

An in-depth research was conducted over the course of six months by professional Hawaiian genealogical expert, H.E. Douglas Brown Po'oloa Tolentino in 2018, by the invitation of Hawaiian cultural and historical expert Herman 'Helemano' Lee. A specialist in Native Hawaiian History, H.E. Douglas Brown Po'oloa Tolentino trained professionally with the renowned Hawaiian historian Edith McKenzie, and served for many years as the official genealogist for the Native Hawaiian Legal Corporation, a Non-Profit law firm providing legal assistance to Native Hawaiians. His genealogical compilations have been admitted as evidence in many court proceedings. He is understood in Hawai'i to be a gifted genealogical expert. The following information concerning the Royal Legitimacy of the Hoapili Baker Family of Hawai'i is founded on the professional genealogical work of H.E. Douglas Brown Po'oloa Tolentino, the family records and genealogical studies of three branches of the Hoapili Baker Family accessible up until 1996, and the personal letters written by Ke Ali'i Prince Robert Hoapili Baker III, Superintendant of the Board of Health for the State of Hawai'i, to his granddaughter, the Princess Georgette Pua'ala Baker.

Legitimacy

It is significant to understand that in the case of Hawai'i, the line of Royal Heirs today does not descend from any direct line from the last Sovereign Dynasty of the Kingdom of Hawai'i. This is because the last Sovereigns of the Kingdom–King David Kalakaua, the elected Sovereign, and his successor, his sister, Queen Lydia Lili'uokalani–had no children. Thus, today there is no direct Royal Line in the case of Hawai'i.

It is Royal procedure in every Royal Family, both in countries of monarchic government and of former monarchic governments, that when the Royal dynastic bloodline of the last Sovereign's immediate family has no further genealogical continuation, the correct and observed blueprint of Royal dynastic structure requires the transfer of the Royal dynastic line to the family member of the closest proximity of the former Sovereign's bloodline. The Royal Dynastic bloodline is transfered to the Sovereign's sibling or sibling's child. If or when the most recent Sovereign's sibling, nephew or niece produces no continuation of offspring for the Royal line of Heirs, the Royal Dynastic bloodline is transfered to the family member of the closest blood proximity in the cousin of the most recent Sovereign. The Royal Dynastic bloodline is never transfered to the family of the Consort (the spouse of the Sovereign).

The Kawananakoa Family are relatives of the Royal Hoapili Baker Family of Hawai'i, but the Kawananakoa are not the foremost Heirs of Hawai'i because they are the descendants of the sister of the Queen Consort, the wife of the Sovereign, King David Kalakaua, Queen Consort Julia Kapi'olani, known in Hawaiian as Kap'iolani.

Kapi'olani's sister was Kekaulike, the mother of three sons known as the Pi'ikoi brothers, of whom the second born child was David Kawananakoa. The Pi'ikoi brothers were, from eldest to youngest, Edward Keli'iahonui, David Kawananakoa, and Jonah Kuhio Kalaniana'ole.

The element that the Kawananakoa Family are in fact descended from the sister of the Queen Consort, thus, the side of the Consort, not from the side of the elected Sovereign ruler, attests to their permanent position that they therefore cannot be, the closest eligible line of the blood relation to the Primary Royal Line of the Sovereign.

For the love of his wife, King Kalakaua I granted the Queen Consort's nephews their distinctions of H.H. in order that their lines would have the honor to be able to join in the line of Succession to the throne of Hawai'i after all of his blood was gone. The king made this statement in his Will and Testament in order to ensure that Hawai'i would always have an auxiliary Line of Heirs so that no Royal Line of Heirs could ever be extinguished from Hawai'i.

* (Insert here image from the State Archives of Hawai'i of the King's Will and Testament)

It is because of their inclusion in King Kalakaua's Will and Testatment that the descendants of the Pi'ikoi brothers, the Queen Consort's nephews, were allowed the right to follow in the line of Succession after the total expiration of the king's blood. The position of the Kawananakoa Family, in clear reference to their Kawananakoa ancestor who was conferred the honorary status of H.H. by the Sovereign, is not a position that is above the rank of the Royal Heir, or above the rank of the family member who is the highest ranking Royal ali'i blood kin to the Royal Heir if the Royal Heir has no offspring. The Royal Heir is the blood of the elected Sovereign, King Kalakaua, and to the last Sovereign, his sister Queen Lili'uokalani. The highest ranking Royal ali'i after the forced American Annexation occured was Prince Robert Hoapili Baker I, who was not from the Consort side, and who had the king's blood.

Since David Kawananakoa was not born a Prince, and never was an H.R.H., only given the honorary distinction to be styled as H.H., by correct Royal structure, the Kawananakoa Family cannot and should not use the distinction of H.R.H. today.

The distinction of H.H. is a trasversal treatment for a Prince; Robert Hoapili Baker I was also an H.H.. Robert Hoapili Baker I, who was born a Prince and already a member of the Royal House of Hawai'i and descending from the most "blue blood" dynastic bloodline of the island of Kaua'i, was the highest ranking Royal Ali'i after the Sovereign, however, whereas the nephews of the Queen Consort, the Pi'ikoi brothers, were born into their given honorary distinctions of H.H. for their auxiliary station.

Because the last Sovereign of the Kingdom of Hawai'i, Queen Lydia Lili'uokalani, had no children, and her brother, her predecessor and the elected Sovereign, King David Kalakaua, gave his sister, his proclaimed Heir, the edict that when she assumed her position as Sovereign, she was to select their niece of their immediate family, the Princess Victoria Ka'iulani, to be the Royal Heir, the distinction of H.R.H., to continue the Royal Dynastic bloodline as Sovereign of Hawai'i. Princess Victoria Ka'iulani was the daughter of their younger sister, the Princess Miriam Likelike and the Scottish-born businessman and horticulturalist, Archibald Cleghorn, who himself became a Royal politician in Hawai'i and ultimately the last Royal Governor of the island of Oahu.

After the illegal American Annexation of the Kingdom of Hawai'i by the American Provisional Government's "Annexation Committee" led by Thurston, H.R.H. Princess Victoria Ka'iulani did not marry and had no continuation of offspring, therefore the Royal dynastic bloodline jumps, adhering to the formula for Royal dynastic structure, and by formal indication in King Kalakaua's Will and Testament, to the remaining blood of the Sovereign, which in its closest proximity at the highest Royal bloodrank, was the line of the Sovereign's cousin, Prince Robert Hoapili Baker I.

It is important to understand why Prince Robert Hoapili Baker I did not use the distinction of H.R.H during his lifetime. The first reason was because the Royal Heir during the lifetimes of these men was already named–the Sovereign's sister, the Princess Lydia Lili'u, who became Queen Lili'uokalani. The second reason is because the political climate was dangerous after the illegal overthrow of the monarchy occured in 1893, and Native Hawaiians, especially the highest ranking ali'i, remained under strict surveillance and social regulations, during and after the civil war. Prince Robert Hoapli Baker I died in the year of 1900, and the fons honorum and distinction as Royal Heir (H.R.H.) technically became transferred to him when H.R.H. Princess Victoria Ka'iulani died in 1897.

In King Kalakaua's Will and Testament, it is clearly stated that the Royal dynastic bloodline will continue through his own blood, and that only after all of his blood is gone (which, as is the case of Royal dynastic structure in every Royal Family in every country, includes the Sovereign's cousins and their offspring), only then could the nephews of his wife, the Queen Consort, the Pi'ikoi brothers and their descendants, follow in the line of Succession of the Royal House of Hawai'i, after all of the king's blood was gone. Among other evident, Royal ceremonial indications and international honors received during the lifetime of King Kalakaua and Queen lili'uokalani evincing his Royal rank, this is why Prince Robert Hoapili Baker I, the cousin of King Kalakaua and his sister, Queen Lili'uokalani, is the correct and legitimate Royal dynastic line of the Royal House of Hawai'i.

Given that the Royal Heir, H.R.H. Princess Victoria Kai'ulani, did not produce continuation of offspring for the immediate Royal line, the Dynastic line of the Royal Heir of Hawai'i jumps to the cousin of the last Sovereign of the Kingdom of Hawai'i, the line of Prince Robert Hoapili Baker I.

The Royal line of Robert Hoapili Baker I was the closest eligible blood relation to the Primary Royal Line of the Sovereign, he was the king's cousin and was the family member who was, following royal protocol, accorded the right to carry the Royal emblems of the crown and scepter of the king at King Kalakaua's funeral procession, the clear indication by Royal protocol who the highest ranking Royal line is after the Sovereign. David Kawananakoa, or even his elder brother, Edward Keli'iahonui, did not carry out this significant, rank-indicative, Royal ceremonial protocol at the king's funeral procession.

Unlike his younger siblings, Prince Robert Kekaipuka'ala Hoapili added their stepfather's name of Baker to his surname. In the Royal Hawaiian Army he became known as the truncated version of "Hoapili Baker" until he made rank of Colonel. There have been some unfounded assertions and misinformation about whether Prince Robert Hoapili Baker I actually had Royal heritage. It has been incorrectly stated that he was only a Colonel, an aide-de-camp, a Governor, a close friend or a servant of the king and queen of the last Sovereign dynasty, but not from Royal blood. It is necessary then to reference the testimony of a family member of a high-ranking line of the Kamehameha Family, who wrote an article published on December 11th, 1901, in the Pacific Commerical Advertiser. The article is written by Aberahama Kaikeoewa Palekaluhi Kamehamehanuiailuau, and called, "Mrs. Widemman's Genealogy", in which he publicly denounces the genealogy of one Mrs. Defries on many counts of fraudulence and fabrication, and in the midst of his defense of historical facts he names Robert Hoapili Baker I as a family member of the highest ranking "blue blood" Royal bloodline.

* (insert article by Kaikeoewa Palekaluhi Kamehamehanuiailuau about Queen Kamakahelei, Kamehameha and Liloa families, of which Prince Robert Kekaipuka'ala Hoapili Baker descended from all three)

What is noteworthy in this article authored by a member of a high-ranking line of the Kamehamameha family, is not only the reference of  "Governor Hoapili Baker" in the direct Royal bloodline of the highest-ranking Hawaiian "blue bloodline" of Kaua'i, but that Robert Hoapili Baker I, the son of the Royal Prince Ikekeleaiku, is the descendant and blood relative of all three of the Royal bloodlines that he mentions in his article: the bloodline of Queen Kamakahelei, the dynasty of King Kamehameha, and the lineage of the oldest documented, XV century Hawaiian ruler, Liloa.

The Native Hawaiian royalist group called "Kanaloa", whose members were all descendants of ali'i of various lower ranks also reference the high-ranking position of the line of Robert Hoapili Baker I in a testament published in the Evening Bulletin in 1901. The author at the top of the names listed on the testament is the signature of the direct ancestor of Mrs. Owana Salazar (who, consequently has no blood relation to King David Kalakaua and his sister successor, Queen Lydia Lili'uokalani of the last sovereign dynasty), whose name was Mrs. Elizabeth Kekaaniau Pratt.

*(Insert here the photo images of the testament written by the Kanaloa royalist group)

What is most remarkable about the case of Prince Robert Hoapili was that he was not only from the most Hawaiian "blue blood" line through his grandparents, Queen Kamakahelei and Kauai-born High Ali'i Chief Kini, he was also a direct descendant of the other two royal bloodlines that are mentioned in this article, through his mother, the very High Ali'i Chiefess Malie Napu'upahoehoe, wife of the Royal Prince Ikekele'aiku. These two royal bloodlines mentioned by Kaikeoewa Palekaluhi Kamehamehanuiailuau are, namely, the Royal Dynastic bloodline of Kamehameha, and the bloodline of the first-ever recorded Hawaiian ruler, the XV century ruler known as King Līloa. Prince Robert Kekaipuka'ala Hoapili Baker, whom the author refers to as "Governor Hoapili Baker" because he was appointed Royal Governor of the Island of Maui, was a descendant of all three founding royal bloodlines mentioned in the article, which significantly singles him out as being what Native Hawaiians refer to as from the most "niau pi'o" bloodlines, or the most "blue-blood". Ikekeleaiku and Kaumuali'i were half-brothers, Kaumuali'i's father being from Maui. It is through this sibling relation that Julia Kapi'olani was a cousin of Robert Kekaipuka'ala Hoapili, being one generation younger than he, she being a granddaughter of Kaumuali'i and the great-granddaughter of Queen Kamakahelei. When he died in 1900, the author of an obituary of Prince Robert Hoapili Baker I entitled "An Heir of Island Sovereigns", ceremoniously included a detailed, chronological, genealogical account of his Royal ancestry.

* (Insert here 6-page Obituary (move from "Royal Legacy" page to "Legitimacy" page)

By structural procedure, it was when the Royal Heir, H.R.H. Princess Victoria Ka'iulani died in 1897 without descendants, that the line of Royal Heirs jumped to Prince Robert Hoapili Baker I, who died in 1900. Auspiciously, Prince Robert Hoapili Baker I married with a very high ranking Ali'i Chiefess of the Kamehameha Family bloodline, Emma Mersberg, perpetuating the consistent "niau pi'o" tradition of his ancestral lineages.

The significant matter of the actual position of the Kawananakoa Family in relation to the Hawaiian Queen Consort was never transparently explained since the Hawaiian cultural renaissance of the 1970's, until now, but should have been more transparently explained. The position of the Kawananakoa Family is that of the side of the Consort. It is international common knowledge of Royal structure that the Consort side is not the line by which the line of Royal Heirs pass. This is why the Kawananakoa Family are correctly understood throughout the legitimate Royal Families of Europe as not being the line of Royal Heirs of Hawai'i, and are seen correctly as a family affiliated with the side of the Consort. The Kawananakoa Family are cousins of the Royal Hoapili Baker Family line through Queen Kamakehelei. Because the last king of Hawai'i, the elected progenitor of the last Sovereign dynasty, King David Kalakaua, honored his wife, Queen Consort Kapi'olani who later became known as the Queen Dowager, by including her own nephews in his Will and Testament regarding the Succession, the Kawananakoa Family are privileged to be included in the Line of Succession of Hawai'i, which uncommonly breaks structural procedure, since the Royal Dynastic Bloodline is never transferred to the family of the Consort, and contrary to the case of Hawai'i, never includes the family of the Consort in the Line of Succession. It is thus that the Kawananakoa Family are veritably in the Line of Succession of Hawai'i, but are not the line of Royal Heirs, or the foremost in line.

After 130 years of American Annexation, the Family of the legitimate bloodline of Royal Heirs of Hawai'i carried the world's near-forgotten and imprecise account of the Royal legacy of Hawai'i from out of obscurity and the anonymity of private life back to inclusion in the international Royal eschalon where it belongs in clarity, honoring the progressive vision of the King of the last Sovereign dynasty of the Hawaiian Kingdom, King David Kalakaua. With the sacred matrimony of the Royal Heir and direct descendant of Prince Robert Hoapili Baker I, H.R.H. Princess Idony Punahele to European Royal blood of an Iberian Lord, whose eminent family, from the oldest European country, descends from the oldest royal bloodline of Europe, a diverse variety of pan-European lineages of kings and queens, including Napolese Kings, pre-British and pre-Spanish kingly lineages, and pre-French high noble lineages, Senhor Dom Alfredo Côrte-Real, a famous, proactive monarchist, philanthropist and acclaimed, historical and royal investigator from Portugal. Concerning his royal lineages from Portugal alone, the first kingdom in Europe and oldest European country with its original kingdom frontiers, his Côrte-Real bloodline descends directly from the kings and queens of the First and Second dynasties of the Kingdom of Portugal, supported further by the direct ancestry of the very line of Kingmakers of Portugal, the bloodline of Dom Egas Moniz. Harmoniously, an ancestor of Senhor Dom Alfredo Côrte-Real, Senhor Dom José Luciano de Castro Côrte-Real, the chief minister of the King of Portugal's government, was present when King David Kalakaua himself was received by King Dom Luis I at the National Palace of Ajuda in Lisbon in 1881 during his world tour of circumnavigating the globe. In her studies and life in Europe, H.R.H. Princess Victoria Ka'iulani was being prepared for her Royal position as Heir, and was courted by and received offers of marriage from high-ranking European personages. Princess Ka'iulani's uncle, King Kalakaua, and her cousin, Prince Robert Hoapili Baker I, also visited the Emperor Meiji to negotiate her hand in marriage to the Imperial Prince of Japan. It was always the intention that the Royal Heir, Princess Victoria Ka'iulani, would marry outside of Oceania at the international level for the advancement and benefit of the Kingdom of Hawai'i, and to share her time between Hawai'i and the country of her husband.

What likely could have taken many generations to carry the legacy of Hawaiian Royal Heirs from more than a century of obscurity back to a level of antiquity of the international Royal eschalon, H.R.H. Princess Idony Punahele has honored Hawai'i's Royal ancestors by successfully doing this in only one generation. In sacred union with the illustrious Senhor Dom Alfredo Côrte-Real, now H.R.H. Prince Alfredo, she has done a great service to both the Royal Legacy and the future of the line of Royal Heirs of Hawai'i.

If, in future, the Head of the Kawananakoa Family were ever to marry into the line of the Royal Heirs of the George I'i branch of the Royal Hoapili Baker Family, a descendant of H.R.H. Princess Idony Punahele Hoapili Côrte-Real, then the position of the Kawananakoa Family would no longer be permanently that of the side of the Consort, and such an auspicious matrimony would unite the two ancient "blue blood" lines of Kaua'i, an occurence that would be happily appreciated from an Oceanian perspective.

H.R.H. Princess Idony Punahele Hoapili and H.R.H. Prince Alfredo share their time between Hawai'i and Europe and are looking forward to starting a family.

* Include the image of the brevet of the Order given to Robert Hoapili Baker I by Emperor Meiji, by which the rank of the Order also indicates that he was of Royal blood.

Respecting the transversal Royal dynastic conventions and rules of Royal ascendance and natural descendance, the closest living descendants or blood relatives of the last ruling Ali'i Nui (Hawaiian for the reigning Sovereign) in Hawai'i, Queen Lili'uokalani (and therefore her brother and predecessor, the elected ruler of the last Sovereign dynasty, King David Kalākaua), are Hoapili Baker Family who carry both pre-kingdom high-ranking Ali'i blood and kingdom-era Royal blood. To further validate the right of the attribution of H.R.H. to the Head of the current Hoapili Baker Family, and thus an inherent Royal bloodright of the fons honorum of the Kingdom of Hawai'i, it is important to respect the Hawaiian terminology of the meaning of Ali'i (a social position of hierarchy having itself various grades of bloodrank),which does not translate in perfect equivalence to the English word, "Royal". This is why the Hoapili Baker Family of Hawai'i carefully differentiate and include both terms of Royal and Ali'i in the reference to their Hawaiian bloodrank and multiple lineages.

The Hoapili Baker Family's multiple lineages of the rank of Hawaiian Royal heritage comprise of:

• the last reigning sovereign dynasty of the unified Kingdom of Hawai'i, the Royal Kalākaua dynasty, by which the High Ali'i Hoapili Baker Family are legitimately of contemporary Royal rank, as Prince Robert Hoapili Baker I was cousin to the Primary Sovereigns, King David Kalākaua and his sister Queen Lydia Lili'uokalani.

• the longest reigning independent sovereign kingdom of Kaua’i and Ni'ihau, the royal dynasty of the court of Queen Kamakahelei, from whom the Royal Hoapili Baker Family share descendance with their Kawananakoa cousins, the descendants from the three sons of High Ali'i (High Chiefess) Victoria Kūhiō Kinoiki Kekaulike II (who was a sister of the Consort monarch, Queen Consort Julia Kapi'olani), who were legally adopted by her surviving sisters, Kapi'olani and Po'omaikalani, thus comprising the beginning of the House of Kawananakoa–the descendants of the Consort Monarch. The three brothers were not born as Princes but were granted the honorary distinctions of being styled as H.H. by their uncle by marriage, King Kalākaua, and it was the king's blood relative–the daughter of his youngest sister, Princess Miriam Likelike–H.R.H. the Princess Victoria Ka'iulani, who continued the rank dinstinction of the Crown Heir as the blood relative of the Primary Monarch. The House of Kawananakoa is the other surviving ali'i Family of Hawai'i associated with the last sovereign dynasty of the kingdom, given that they constitute the descendants of the nephews of the Consort Monarch, Julia Kapi'olani.

• the first royal dynasty of the unified Kingdom of Hawai'i, the Kamehameha Dynasty

The Hoapili Baker Family's lineages also include:

• direct lineage to the first documented, XV century ruler in the Hawaiian archipelago, Liloa, documented as "Mo'i Liloa of Hawai'i" or "King Liloa", through the mother of Prince Robert Hoapili Baker I, the High Ali'i Malie Napu'upahoehoe

• blood relation to the Royal Dynasty of Tahiti, through the bloodline from the sacred island of Maupiti

The Constitution of 1887, composed by King David Kālakaua, served as supreme law at the time of the imposed overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawai'i in 1893. Article 22 of the Constitution outlined the Royal Succession:

"Pauku 22. E ho'omau loa ia ka Laiali'i no ka Mo'i Kalākaua a me na ho'olina aku o kona kino i hapai ia malalo o ke Kanawai, a i ka lakou mau mamo aku ma ke Kanawai ma ka lalai pololei; a i nele ia, e ili aku ka Leiali'i i ke Kama Ali'i Wahine Lili'uokalani, a me na ho'olina aku o kona kino i hapai ia malalo o ke Kanawai a i ka lakou mamo aku ma ke Kanawai ma ka lalani pololei. E ili aku i ke keiki kane hanau mua a me na ho'olina aku o kona kino, a i nele i ke keiki kane ole, alaila i ke kaikamahine hanau mua a me na ho'olina aku o kona kino, a i nele loa i ka ho'olina ole e like me ka olelo maluna iho, alaila e ili aku ka Leiali'i i ka mea i koho ia e ka Mo'i me ka ae ana o na 'Li'i a i ho'olina ia hoi oiai e ola ana ka Mo'i; aka, ina a'ole i kohoia a i ho'olaha ia pela a ua hakahaka koke aku e halawai ka Ahaolelo, a na ia Ahaolelo e koho ma ka balota i kekahi Ali'i hanau o ka aina i Ali'i e noho ma ka nohoali'i, a mamuli o ia ho'onoho ia ana e ho'omaka ai he Ohana Mo'i hou a e pili iaia a me kona mau mamo aku ke Kanawai e kau nei no ka ili ana aku o ka Leiali'i o ka Ohana Mo'i o Hawai'i nei."

Translated in English, Article 22 reads:

"The Crown is hereby permanently conferred to His Majesty King Kalākaua, and the Heirs of His body lawfully begotten, and to their lawful Descendants in a direct line; failing whom, the Crown shall descend to Her Royal Highness the Princess Lili'uokalani, and the heirs of her body, lawfully begotten, and their lawful descendants in a direct line. The Succession shall be to the senior male child, and to the heirs of his body; failing a male child, the succession, shall be to the senior female child, and to the heirs of her body. In case there is no heir as above provided, the Successors shall be the person whom the Sovereign shall appoint with the consent of the Nobles, and publicly proclaim during the Sovereign's life; but should there be no such appointed and proclamation, and the Throne should become vacant, then the Cabinet, immediately after the occuring of such vacancy, shall cause a meeting of the Legislature, who shall elect by ballot some native Ali'i of the Kingdom as Succesor to the Throne; and the Successor so elected shall become a new Stirps for the Royal Family; and the Succession from the Sovereign thus elected, shall be regulated by the same law as the present Royal Family of Hawai'i." 

Following constitutional procedure, the Legislature of the Kingdom of Hawai'i would have assembled to elect a Successor by ballot, since Queen Lili'uokalani had no children. However, given the fact that the official Legislature of Hawai'i was never re-convened due to the dissolution of the Kingdom of Hawai'i, Queen Lili'uokalani was the last Royal Stirps (basis of a family branch) per Article 22 of the 1887 Constitution. Thus, contemporary Royal succession claims must be based on genealogical bloodline proximity to Queen Lili'uokalani, and to her brother, King David Kalākaua, the last Sovereign king of the Kingdom of Hawai'i, and not to the last Queen Consort Julia Kapi'olani.

There are many countries and territories which are no longer governed by a Constitutional Monarchy, however, the Royal living descendants or closest blood relations to the last sovereign dynasty of a previously monarchic country are still internationally recognized as being legitimate Royal Heirs (H.R.H.) in their country or territory in the event of a monarchy ever being reinstated to govern––hence the reason why there is still an acknowledged, legitimate Royal House in existence in  such countries or territories. The descendents of the Royal and High Ali'i family related by blood to King Kalākaua, Queen Lili'uokalani and Princess Victoria Ka'iulani are still acknowledged as legitimately Royal in reference to a contemporary Royal House of Hawai'i.

The living ali'i descendants who are closest blood relations to King Kalākaua and his sister Queen Lili'uokalani are recognized as the primary legitimate Heir candidates to unified island leadership. The living descendants of Ali'i who were adopted legally into the Kalākaua Dynasty, namely, the descendants of the Consort Sovereign, constitute the next in line to Succession after the primary legitimate Heir candidates who are closest in blood relation to the Primary Sovereign.

The Royal and Ali'i Hoapili Baker Family of the legitimate representative branch of H.R.H. George Ī'i Baker will continue to actively preserve the legacy and the authenticity of the Hoapili Baker Family's royal and ali'i name, as well as that of the Royal House of Hawai'i – Ka Hale Ali'i O Hoapili Baker (the Royal House of Hoapili Baker), by maintaining its traditions and culture in a pono manner, and promoting the progressive vision of King David Kalākaua.

H.R.H./Ke Ali'i George I'i Baker 

H.R.H. (Ke Ali'i) Prince George I'i Baker, wearing the Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Order of Kalākaua

By Hawaiian custom and Hawaiian common law of natural descendance, adhering to the guidelines of succession in Kalākaua's Constitution of 1887, supporting the consensus of leading members of the Royal Order of Kamehameha I in Hawai’i, and by the mutual agreement of the extended Royal and Ali'i Hoapili Baker family of Hawai'i and abroad, ke ali'i George Ī'i Baker, the senior surviving kupuna (elder) of the family, inherently and naturally has rightful seniority as Head, and is the correct and rightful Senior Heir of the Hoapili Baker Family who is necessary to be identified and designated as the Head of an entity representing the Hoapili Baker Family at the time of the first public claims made by any member of the Hoapili Baker Family to the fons honorum, since no formal claim was made by Prince Robert Hoapili Baker I (after H.R.H. Princess Victoria Ka'iulani died in 1893), due entirely to the circumstances of political instability for Native Hawaiians. The first public claims of bloodright to the fons honorum made by a member of the Hoapili Baker Family were in 2018. The transparent acknowledgement of ke ali'i George I’i Baker as both Senior Heir and Head of the (and any) royal organizational entity representing the Hoapili Baker Family name, royal heritage and legacy, legitimizes and accurately represents the Hoapili Baker right by blood to the fons honorum.

Ke ali'i Prince George I'i Baker is the twelfth of fifteen siblings born in Hilo, on the island of Hawai'i, to ke ali'i Robert Hoapili Baker III and ke ali'i Bernicia Ka'iliponi Lane, on September 11th, 1936. Ke ali'i George I'i was raised between Honoka'a on the island of Hawai'i and Honolulu on the island of Oahu.

Ke ali'i Prince George Ī'ī is the eldest surviving kupuna at the time of the first public mention of an entity representing the current surviving Hoapili Baker Famiy and its Royal and ali'i legacy, and naturally as part of the surviving Royal House of Hawai'i. 

The surviving Senior Heir of the Royal and Ali'i Hoapili Baker Family at the time of the first public mention of claims to the fons honorom in 2018 on behalf of the Hoapili Baker family name and legacy who has authoritative seniority to legitimize and represent the Royal Hoapili Baker Family and legacy was and is ke ali'i George I’i Baker (H.R.H. Prince George I'i), due to his status as the eldest surviving kupuna (grandparent, or ancestor) of the generation of na keiki ali'i (children) of ke ali'i Robert Hoapili Baker III.

After a period of internal restructuring and reorganizing, ke ali'i George Ī'ī, the Senior Heir of the Hoapili Baker family, has appointed his eldest grandchild of the blood, (H.R.H. Princess Idony Punahele Hoapili) whose full name, being now married, is Idony Nikita Punahele Hoapili Côrte-Real, to serve as the appointed Head of the Royal Hoapili Baker Family of the Royal House of Hawai'i representing internationally and in Hawai'i, effective January 10th, 2020.

The jurisdiction of ali'i and royal Hawaiian common law and custom recognizes both male and female ascendence in the common law of natural descendance. One example of this is the fact that Queen Kamakahelei was appointed to ascend to the position of Ali'i Nui (regnant royal leader) of the island kingdom of Kaua'i instead of the male possibilities of the Royal Court of Kaua'i. Another example is the fact that King David Kalākaua designated his niece Princess Victoria Ka'iulani, daughter of his sister Princess Miriam Likelike, as the Crown Heir to the Throne of the Kingdom of Hawai'i, instead of the extant male possibilities of the nephews of his wife, Queen Consort Julia Kapi'olani (Edward Keli'iahonui, Jonah Kūhiō Kalaniana'ole and David Kawananakoa, known as the Pi'ikoi brothers for whom King Kalākaua granted distinctions of (H.H.) Princes of Hawai'i in 1883).

The daughter of Ke Ali'i (H.R.H.) Prince George I'i, ke ali'i Georgette Rogée Pua'ala Baker Luppino (H.R.H. Princess Georgette Pua'ala), also serves as a family representative in the United States from Hawai'i as the C.E.O. and Chairwoman of the philanthropic arm of the Royal House of Hawai'i – Ka Hale Ali'i O Hoapili Baker, The Hoapili Baker Foundation.

Please see the Disclaimer authorized by the HRH ke ali'i Prince George I'i Baker, (the senior living kupuna at the time of the first public mention of a Royal House in 2018), the Head of the Royal House of Hawai'i – Ka Hale Ali'i O Hoapili Baker (the Royal House of Hoapili Baker).

Ke Ali'i (H.R.H.) Prince George I'i died of natural causes in hospital in Honolulu, on October 11th, 2023, at the age of 87, exactly eleven days after the Royal Wedding of his granddaughter and chosen Heir. His health had been steadily declining, however he succeeded in his stalwart effort in his goal to remain alive before the named Heir married on September 30th.

The Royal and Ali'i Hoapili Baker 'Ohana focuses on striving to promote advanced education abroad for Hawaiians, science, ocean preservation, and Hawaiian and international cultural art forms in Hawai’i, through the projects of the family’s philanthropic arm, The Hoapili Baker Foundation. The Royal House of Hawai'i – Ka Hale Ali'i O Hoapili Baker respects the beliefs and customs of Native Hawaiians, while endeavoring, in this modern age, to pursue progressive technological science and advanced educational opportunities for the keiki (youth) of the next generation.

Herman 'Helemano' Ahpoi Lee, Jr. 

The Royal and Ali'i Hoapili Baker Family will always be grateful to an aikāne (friend) and inestimable mentor, uncle Herman 'Helemano' Lee, for his boundless historical acumen of the Hawaiian culture, his guidance and perseverence. Uncle Helemano selflessly endeavored to assist in the acknowledgement of the Royal and Ali'i Hoapili Baker Family, as well as establish an entity which correctly represents theFamily. Under the authority of the Senior Heir in 2018, ke ali'i George Ī'ī Baker, his eldest child by blood, ke ali'i Georgette Pu'a'ala Baker, and his eldest grandchild by blood and appointed Heir, ke ali'i Idony Punahele Hoapili, the trajectory and motives of the entity honoring the Hoapili Baker 'Ohana's ali'i legacy and respectable family name–Royal House of Hawai'i, Royal House of Hoapili Baker–will remain pono (righteous).

An Act to Perpetuate the Genealogy of the

Chiefs of Hawai'i

This article is about the preservation of an archive of the descendants of high-ranking ali'i blood, initiated by an Act legislated in 1880 by the Hawaiian Legislature. The descendants inherently belong to the Estate of Nobles (Chiefs) and are eligible to be appointed as Nobles in the Legislative Assembly and are also eligible to be elected to the Throne in accordance with Hawaiian Law. The King approved and signed this Act in 1880.

King Kalākaua wanted a "Board of Genealogy of Hawaiian Chiefs" to record the genealogies of those that were of high ranking blood and could be considered in the event that someone had to be named an heir to the throne of Hawaii. The names mentioned are all the lineages that were eligible for either role according to law.

On August 9, 1880, the Hawaiian Legislature effectuated An Act to Perpetuate the Genealogy of the Chiefs of Hawaii

" AN ACT

To Perpetuate the Genealogy of the Chiefs of Hawaii

WHEREAS, it is provided by the 22d Article of the constitution that the kings of Hawaii shall be chosen from native chiefs of the kingdom; AND WHEREAS, at the present day it is difficult to ascertain the chiefs, as contemplated by said Article of the constitution, and it is proper that such genealogies of the kingdom be perpetuated, and also the history of the chiefs and kings from ancient times down to the present day, which would also be a guide to the King in the appointment of Nobles in the Legislative Assembly, therefore,

Be it enacted by the King and the Legislative Assembly of the Hawaiian Islands, in the Legislature of the Kingdom Assembled:

Section 1. His Majesty the King in Cabinet Council shall appoint some proper person or persons to collect from genealogical books, and from the knowledge of old people the history and genealogy of the Hawaiian chiefs, and shall publish a book of the doings of such Board, which shall be called "The Board of Genealogy of Hawaiian Chiefs," during such time as it may be in session.

Section 2. The Minister of Interior is hereby authorized to pay the members of said Board at a rate not exceeding two dollars per day, and for all the other expenses of the said Board, not exceeding two thousand dollars, which sum shall include the purchase of books, travelling expenses, paper, pens, ink, books and so forth, for searching for ancient things which have been lost or concealed in places of concealment, and for ascertaining the places of sepulture of the ancient chiefs, where their bones are now concealed; which sum shall be paid out of any monies not otherwise appropriated by the Appropriation Bill.

Section 3. Said Board may make such rules and regulations as may be necessary for them and for their work, and shall submit the name to His Majesty the King in Cabinet Council before commencing their duties.

Section 4. This act shall become a law from the use of its approval.

Approved this 9th day of August, A.D. 1880

KALĀKAUA  R."

According to the Rules of the Board, the principle duties of the Board members were:

"1. To gather, revise, correct and record the Genealogy of Chiefs.

2. To gather, revise correct and record all published and unpublished Ancient Hawaiian History.

3. To gather, revise, correct and record all published and unpublished Meles (Songs), and also to ascertain the object and the spirit of the Meles, the age and History of the period when composed and to note the same on the Record Book.

4. To record all the tabu customs of the Mo'īs (Kings) and Chiefs."

In its report of 1884, the Board stated it was examining some copies of genealogical books by Kamokuiki, Hao'o, Kanahi, Unauna, Hakaleleponi, Pi'ianaia, Kalaualu and David Malo, and that the "Board has not entered into revision of these books and those written by historians as the time has been taken up mostly in attesting the genealogy of those that have applied to have their genealogy established."

The Board also reported, that it "has avoided entering into controversies with the genealogical discussions that have been going on for a year or more in the local Hawaiian newspapers, as these discussions have been more or less conducted in a partisan spirit instead of on scientific principles. They loose the merit of usefulness by the hostilities assumed by the contending writers."

On July 5, 1887, the newly appointed Cabinet Council and two members of the Supreme Court committed the high crime of treason by coercing King Kalakaua to sign a new constitution under threat of assassination. This so-called constitution came to be known as the Bayonet Constitution and was never submitted to the Legislative Assembly for approval, which is required under law. Hawaiian constitutional law provides that any proposed change to the constitution must be submitted to the Legislative Assembly, and upon majority agreement, would be deferred to the next legislative session for action. Once the next legislature convened, and the proposed amendment or amendments were "agreed to by two-thirds of all members of the Legislative Assembly, and be approved by the King, such amendment or amendments shall become part of the Constitution of this country (Article 80, 1864 Constitution)."

The so-called constitution was drafted by a select group of twenty individuals and effectively placed control of the Legislature and Cabinet in the hands of individuals who held foreign allegiances, which led to the illegal overthrow of the Hawaiian government by the United States of America. The leader of this insurgency, Lorrin Thurston, was the Minister of the Interior, and he refused to fund the Board of genealogists as required by law.

In a letter to her Royal Highness Princess Po'omaikelani, President of the Genealogical Board, dated July 29, 1887, Thurston writes, "I beg to acknowledge receipt of your communication of the 27th inst. in which you state the labors of the board need not be suspended because the appropriation cannot be paid. There can, of course be no objection to a continuation of the work by the Board of Genealogy so long as it is carried out without expense to the Government."

Despite the lack of government funding and the illegal overthrow of the government of the Hawaiian Kingdom, the Board of Genealogy continued its work to complete the genealogies of Mo'okua'auhau Ali'i (Hawaiian Chiefs) that were eventually published in the Ka Maka'ainana newspaper in the year 1896.

The article stated that on August 3 of 1896, the Genealogies of Robert Hoapili Baker was published.

Any individual today who is a direct descendant of the Hawaiian Chiefs identified in these published genealogies belong to the Estate of Nobles (Chiefs), and are eligible to be appointed as Nobles in the Legislative Assembly. In the case of an election were the Hawaiian Islands to again become a nation with a sovereign monarchy, these direct descendants are eligible candidates to the Throne in accordance with Hawaiian law.

Translated from Hawaiian

Liloa (male) lived with (married) Akahiakuleana (female), and had Umi (male).

Umi-a-Liloa (male), married Kapulani (female), and had Umi (male).

Keawenui-a-Umi (male), married Koihalawai (female), and had Kanaloakuaana (male).

Kanaloakuaana (male), married Kaikilani (female), and had Keakealani (male).

Keakealani (male) married Kaleiheana (female), and had Moana (male).

Moana (male), married Piilani (female), and had Ilikiamoana (female).

Kauhi-a-Haki (male), married Ilikiamoana (female), and had Kahanaumalani (male), Heiaholani (male), Moana (female), Koialiipuheelani (male), and Huapuaalani (male).

Kahanaumalani (male), married Naheana (female), and had Kanuha (male).

Kanuha (male), married Kamanoheli'i I. (female), and had Napu'upahoehoe (male).

Napu'upahoehoe (male), married Maunahia (female), and had Luka (female), Malie (female), and Kamanoheli'i II (female).

High Ali'i Malie (female) married Prince Ikekeleiaiku (male), and had Kamai (female), Robert Hoapili Baker (male), Henry Kanuha (male), and Kinohou (female).

Kamai (female), married Patrick Cockett (male), and had no lineal descendants.

Robert Hoapili Baker (male), married High Ali'i Emma Merseburg (female), and had many children.

Henry Kanuha (male), married a woman and had a large family.

Kamanoheli'i II (female), married Rev. J. Kauhane o Kau, and had many children.