As delegate, ‘Prince Cupid’ won hearts in Congress

Yesterday was Kuhio Day, and I thought I’d write about the "Citizen Prince" in my column this week. A hundred years ago he was the bright, shining light of Hawaii, a man everyone looked up to, a leader of the Hawaiian people.

Recently I’ve come across several people referring to him as "Prince Cupid." I wasn’t sure where he got that appelation. Did he have an angelic face, I wondered? Did he help couples get together? I decided to see whether I could find out.

I came up with two explanations. Judge John Desha, a close family friend, says Kuhio got the nickname while studying at St. Matthew’s College in San Mateo, Calif.

His classmates could not say "Kalanianaole." "Prince Jonah Kuhio" was too formal. Someone there blurted out "Prince Cupid," and it stuck.

"The name seemed to amuse the prince," Desha said, "but he never referred to himself as ‘Cupid.’ It would have been beneath his dignity."

Several others said a teacher or close friends gave him the sobriquet of "Prince Cupid" because he was round and chubby as a child and resembled pictures of cupid.

The people of Hawaii called him the "Citizen Prince" because of his lifetime devotion to the residents of Hawaii.

Prince Jonah Kuhio Kalanianaole was born March 26, 1871, in a grass house in Koloa, Kauai, to High Chief David Jonah Pii­koi, son of the last king of Kauai. Pii­koi was a cousin to King Kala­kaua and Queen Liliu­oka­lani. He owned land in Kane­ohe and had a home on the makai part of Pii­koi Street, on the Diamond Head side of McKinley High School.

Kuhio’s aunt was Queen Kapiolani. She and King Kalakaua were childless but took Prince Kuhio and his brothers, Prince David Kawananakoa and Prince Edward Kealiiahonui in as wards, when their parents died.

When David Kala­kaua was elected king in 1872, the three brothers became princes and in line possibly to become king one day.

"Kuhio" was translated as "chief who leaned forward as he stood"; "Kalanianaole," as "chief who is never satisfied," "ambitious chief" or "royal chief without measure."

Prince Kuhio attended The Chief’s Childrens’ School (now Royal School), St. Albans school and Punahou, where he excelled at running, rowing, football, polo, golf and cycling. He was also an exceptional marksman. Kuhio then went to St. Matthew’s College in Cali­for­nia and then studied law at Oxford University in England.

After Queen Liliu­oka­lani was overthrown, Prince Kuhio was arrested and charged with treason for supporting an attempt to put her back on the throne. He served eight months in prison, and Hawaiians revered him for his loyalty to the queen.

During his time at Oahu Prison, Kuhio was visited almost daily by Chiefess Elizabeth Kahanu, who sang to him. They became engaged and were married soon after his release.

Prince Kuhio ran as a Republican for Congress and served as Hawaii’s lone delegate from 1902 until 1922. He was the only prince of royal blood to ever serve in our nation’s capital.

It was a difficult time for the new territory, which needed a leader with strength and vision to rally around. Prince Kuhio was that leader.

His fellow members of Congress also had trouble pronouncing Kuhio and Kalanianaole, so they also called him Prince Cupid.

Kuhio introduced the first Hawaii statehood bill. He fought for women’s suffrage — the right to vote and hold elective office.

Prince Kuhio fought for the creation of the Hawaiian Homes Commission, which offered homestead lands for Hawaiians, although it fell short of all Kuhio and others hoped for.

Many of his accomplishments, it was said, were made because of friendships he developed in an all-male poker club he organized in Washington.

"The prince got a lot of legislation pushed through at those all-night sessions," Judge Desha, his Washington secretary, believes.

Prince Kuhio returned often to his Wai­kiki home, Pua­lei­lani, on what is now called Kuhio Beach. He often brought fellow congressmen to Hawaii to educate them about the territory. The creation of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park was the result of one congressional visit.

While Pearl Harbor had been offered to the United States during the reign of King Kala­kaua, it lay undeveloped until Prince Kuhio lobbied President Theodore Roosevelt and his fellow congressmen to appropriate funding for its development. That began around 1908.

Prince Kuhio died at Pua­lei­lani on Jan. 7, 1922. He was just 50 years old.

His koa casket bore the inscription "Ke Alii Maka­ainana" — "The Citizen Prince." It was drawn from Kawaiaha‘o Church to the Royal Mausoleum in Nuu­anu, with bereaved citizens lining the streets. Thousands marched in the procession.

Congress stopped its work for a day to heap praises on its delegate. Congressman Charles Curry from Cali­for­nia remarked that Prince Kuhio "held a place in the heart of the Congress that was particularly his own, and it can never again be filled by another.

"And he holds a place in the history of Hawaii that no other man has ever held and, very likely, no one will ever share with him."

Prince Cupid "pierced the hearts of America and Hawaii with his arrow and welded them together so firmly that they can never be separated."

Bob Sigall, author of the Companies We Keep books, looks through his collection of old photos to tell stories each Friday of Hawaii people, places and companies. Email him at Sigall@Yahoo.com.