Princess Kaiulani is a 2009 British-American biographical drama film based on the life of Princess Kaʻiulani (1875–1899) of the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi.
Poster for US theatrical release
Kaʻiulani was a Hawaiian royal, the only child of Princess Miriam Likelike, and the last heir apparent to the throne of the Hawaiian Kingdom. She was the niece of King Kalākaua and Queen Liliʻuokalani. After the death of her mother, Princess Kaʻiulani was sent to Europe at age 13 to complete her education under the guardianship of British businessman and Hawaiian sugar investor Theo H. Davies. She had not yet reached her eighteenth birthday when the 1893 overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom altered her life. The Committee of Safety rejected proposals from both her father Archibald Scott Cleghorn, and provisional president Sanford B. Dole, to seat Kaʻiulani on the throne, conditional upon the abdication of Liliʻuokalani. The Queen thought the Kingdom's best chance at justice was to relinquish her power temporarily to the United States.
Kaʻiulani in 1897
Kaʻiulani as a little girl, c. 1881
Kaʻiulani at Great Harrowden Hall, c. 1892
Archibald Scott Cleghorn tried in vain to secure Kaʻiulani's right to the throne during the overthrow