His motto was "Onipaʻa": immovable, firm, steadfast, or determined; he is said to have worked diligently for his people and kingdom, being described as the last great traditional chief.

[6] His childhood was difficult; he felt that his hānai parents treated him as a stranger in their house, and that the adoption had deprived him the love of his mother.

Throughout his life he would have a deep dislike for this tradition as it could be later seen by his anger at his half-sister Ruth Keelikolani giving away her second son Keolaokalani to Bernice Pauahi Bishop.

[8] Since King Kamehameha III declared him eligible for the throne, he was educated at the Royal School like his cousins and siblings.

When he appointed Charles de Varigny, a French national, as minister of finance in December 1863,[14] Americans in Hawaiʻi were convinced that he had adopted an anti-American policy.

[16] In 1865, a bill was brought before the legislature giving foreign merchants the right to sell liquor directly to Native Hawaiians.

Kamehameha V surprised supporters of the bill by refusing to grant his assent, saying: "I will never sign the death warrant of my people."

He stayed for four months under his real name, Samuel Clemens, writing letters back to the Sacramento Union describing the islands.

Twain described the king: He was a wise sovereign; he had seen something of the world; he was educated & accomplished, & he tried hard to do well by his people, & succeeded.

There was no trivial royal nonsense about him; He dressed plainly, poked about Honolulu, night or day, on his old horse, unattended; he was popular, greatly respected, and even beloved.

He appealed to Kaiser Wilhelm I of Germany, who sent Henri Berger to organize the Royal Hawaiian Band, a gift of music from the king to his people.

[26] In February 1847, a female student at the Royal School, Abigail Maheha, was expelled and wed in a hastily arranged marriage due to a scandalous pregnancy.

[27] Some speculate that the sixteen year-old Kamehameha V or his seventeen-year-old brother Moses Kekūāiwa was the father of Abigail's daughter Keanolani, who left living descendants.