It was the ecclesiastical province of the Anglican Communion in Hawaiʻi, which later merged into the American Episcopal Church during the establishment of the Republic of Hawaii.

William Ingraham Kip of the Episcopal Church in California also supported the idea, but the American Civil War prevented any help from them.

[2] The sending of Staley caused friction with the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions even before he arrived in 1862; making him a bishop concerned the Congregationalists, who opposed any kind of religious hierarchy.

After Kamehameha IV died, an elaborate funeral service was held which was compared to a Pontifical High Mass.

The Royal Mausoleum was built with a private chapel, which contrasted to the simple unadorned graveyards preferred by earlier missionaries.