Liliʻuokalani's Privy Council of State

Following the January 20, 1891 death of King Kalākaua in San Francisco, his embalmed body arrived at Honolulu Harbor aboard the USS Charleston, draped in black with its ensigns at half mast.

[2] The Privy Council of State of the Kingdom of Hawaii was a constitutionally-created body purposed to advise and consent to acts made by the monarch.

[3] At an emergency meeting of Kalākaua's privy council and justices of the supreme court, they were in accord that Liliʻuokalani be installed as monarch on January 29.

She did not wish to discuss affairs of state during the period of mourning, but reluctantly acquiesced, and was given the oath of office by Hawaii Supreme Court Chief Justice Albert Francis Judd.

They included the insurgents who would play an eventual role in the deposition of the queen, and also the political resistance leaders who would lead the opposition to the overthrow and attempts to annex the Hawaiian Islands to the United States.