Kuini Liliha (c. 1802–1839) was a High Chiefess (aliʻi) and noblewoman who served the Kingdom of Hawaii as royal governor of Oʻahu island.

Some genealogists say Liliha was only adopted by Hoapili, but the practice known as hānai was considered a bond as strong as a blood relation.

[1] According to them, she was the biological daughter of Koakanu, a son or grandson of Kaolohaka-a-Keawe, one of the many issues of Keaweʻīkekahialiʻiokamoku; and his wife High Chiefess Loeau.

Boki and Liliha returned to Oʻahu with the bodies of Kamehameha II and Kamāmalu in 1825 on the British warship HMS Blonde.

Heeding the advice of her Congregationalist ministers, Kaʻahumanu convinced King Kamehameha III to ban the Roman Catholic Church from the islands.

Only after the intervention of the French government and Captain Cyrille-Pierre-Théodore Laplace and Kamehameha III's proclamation of the Edict of Toleration did Hawaiians like Kuini Liliha have the legal right of membership in the Hawaii Catholic Church.

As royal governor, Boki incurred large debts from the foreigners and attempted to cover them by traveling to the New Hebrides to harvest sandalwood.

[8] Boki and his entourage were lost at sea and pronounced dead, leaving Liliha in administration as royal governor.

In November 1833 (after Kaʻahumanu's death and Kamehameha III came to age) some chiefs planned to back her as Kuhina Nui, a position similar to prime minister or as powerful as co-regent.

Instead, Hoapili put his support behind Elizabeth Kīnaʻu, who also acted as governor of Oʻahu with Kuakini returning to the island of Hawaiʻi.