Likelike's parents were Analea Keohokālole and Caesar Kapaʻakea, and the family were members of the aliʻi class of the Hawaiian nobility.

She married Scottish businessman Archibald Scott Cleghorn in 1870 and was the mother of Princess Kaʻiulani, the last heir to the throne before the 1893 overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom.

[3] Two of her namesakes were Likelike (an earlier Hawaiian chiefess and wife of Kalanimoku) and Miriam Auhea Kekāuluohi, Kuhina Nui (premier) and the mother of King Lunalilo (r.

[6] The youngest daughter and penultimate child of a large family, her biological siblings included James Kaliokalani, David Kalākaua, Liliʻuokalani, Anna Kaʻiulani, Kaʻiminaʻauao, and William Pitt Leleiohoku II.

[10] According to historian George Kanahele, she was raised in Hilo on the wetter windward side of the island of Hawaii: "Little is known about her early years".

[4][12] According to newspaper columnist Clarice Taylor, Likelike was raised by her mother and then cared for by Queen Emma after her death.

The sisters arrived in Hawaii in 1859, and established day and boarding schools for Hawaiian girls next to the Cathedral Basilica of Our Lady of Peace in Honolulu.

Likelike was later educated by American Congregationalist missionary teacher Maria Ogden at the Makiki Family School, established in Honolulu in 1860 with the support of King Kamehameha IV and Queen Emma.

[15][16] Her classmates at Kawaiahaʻo included Annie Palekaluhi Kaikioʻewa (sister of Edward Kamakau Lilikalani) and Lily Auld, also members of the Hawaiian nobility.

In a September 7, 1865, letter, Liliʻuokalani (who had married John Owen Dominis) advised Likelike about her education:[19][20] How lonely I feel without you.

[21] During the 1869 visit of Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh and the Galatea, Likelike's sister Liliʻuokalani entertained the British prince with a traditional Hawaiian lūʻau at her Waikiki residence of Hamohamo.

Likelike accompanied Queen Dowager Kalama and Kūnuiākea on a carriage of state from Honolulu to Waikiki on the occasion of the festivities.

[24] Cleghorn had fathered daughters Rose, Helen and Annie with his part-Hawaiian mistress (Elizabeth Lapeka Pauahi Grimes) before the marriage, and Likelike accepted the children.

[33] Likelike was au courant with the latest fashions, ordering dresses and clothing from San Francisco and Paris.

She wore "a robe of brocaded white satin trimmed with pearls and feathers" ordered from San Francisco, and was waited on by sisters Clara and Lizzie Coney.

[9][50] In April 1880, the legislature of the Kingdom appropriated an annual allowance of $8,000 (a $5,000 increase from her salary as governor) for Likelike "provided she resigns the office of Governess of Hawaii".

[54] The organization provided assistance for the needy, including financial help, clothing, medical care or shelter, food, and family burials.

[55] Likelike helped her sister to found the Liliʻuokalani Educational Society, an organization "to interest the Hawaiian ladies in the proper training of young girls of their own race whose parents would be unable to give them advantages by which they would be prepared for the duties of life", in 1886.

She visited Auckland, Sydney and Melbourne from August to December 1871 with her husband on their extended honeymoon, and met colonial governors and officials.

In 1877, mourning the death of her brother Leleiohoku, she traveled to San Francisco for her health and returned to Honolulu on the steamer Likelike on its first voyage between California and Hawaii.

Their visit coincided with the arrival of Queen Marau, wife of King Pōmare V of Tahiti, who was en route to Paris.

[60] In mid-January 1887, a large school of red āweoweo fish was seen off the coast of the island of Hawaii, an omen in native Hawaiian beliefs that foretold the death of a member of royalty.

[63] Rumors circulated in Hawaii's Euro-American (haole) community that she had died of fear due to superstition or had been "prayed" to death by a powerful kahuna ʻanāʻanā,[note 1] or that she sacrificed her life to the goddess Pele to stop the 1887 eruption of Mauna Loa.

After the 1893 overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom, Kaʻiulani traveled from London to Washington, D.C. and convinced U.S. President Grover Cleveland to attempt to restore the monarchy.

[70] In accordance with those beliefs, Likelike's body was moved sometime after midnight on February 3 and arrived at ʻIolani Palace around 2 a.m. She was placed on a catafalque in the throne room, where she lay in state until the following afternoon.

[11] In 1877, Liliʻuokalani composed Aloha ʻOe about the parting of two lovers in Maunawili; later historians have speculated that the song was about Likelike and an unknown man.

[86][87] The group composed a number of kanikau (dirges) for the funeral of Princess Likelike in 1887, including songs by Liliʻuokalani and ladies-in-waiting Kapoli Kamakau and Eliza Wood Holt.

[85][88] Kamakau composed "Imi Ia Ka Lani" ("The Heavenly One Is Sought") as a tribute to Likelike at her death.

This state of affairs is due probably as much to her tertiary status in the royal hierarchy of succession as to her musical talents and accomplishments.

Sold to businessman Samuel Gardner Wilder and used for inter-island transport, it was wrecked in 1897 off the coast of Keawe‘ula on the island of Hawaii.