`Iolani Palace served as the official residence of King Kalakaua until his death in 1891. On January 29th, 1891 Hawai’i welcomed a new monarch, Kalakaua’s sister Lili’uokalani. Queen Lili’uokalani would be the last monarch of the Hawaiian Kingdom and the last to reside in `Iolani Palace.
The Kingdom had undergone major changes in 1876. Under pressure from American businessmen such as Sanford Dole of Dole Pineapple fame and their Hawaiian born children who sought more power in the government, King Kalakaua had signed the Constitution of 1876, making Hawai’i a Constitutional monarchy with a legislative body. This Constitution is known as the Bayonet Constitution in Hawai’i, as it was signed under threat of force.
Queen Lili’uokalani desired to restore the monarchy to its former glory and remove the influence of foreigners in Hawaiian government. In 1893 she formed a new Constitution which would restore full power of government to the monarch. Finding out about this, the same forces who had created the Bayonet Constitution forced Queen Lili’uokalani to give up her crown. In order to avoid violence she did so on January 17th, 1893, less than two years after she had first taken the throne. The Hawaiian Kingdom now became the Republic of Hawai’i.
`Iolani Palace was made the center of the new republican government. However, it would not end being the residence of royalty just yet. In 1895, after a royalist attempt to restore Lili’uokalani to the throne, Lili’uokalani was arrested as a traitor and conspirator and imprisoned in an upper chamber of the Palace. This would be Lili’uokalani’s home for five more years, no longer as Queen but as prisoner.