Born to Kekāuluohi and High Chief Charles Kanaʻina, he was of royal descent and a grandnephew of King Kamehameha I.

He was educated at the Royal School by American missionaries and was proclaimed eligible for the throne by King Kamehameha III.

William Charles Lunalilo was born on January 31, 1835, in a two-story house made of coral brick, an area known as Pohukaina, now part the grounds of the ʻIolani Palace in Honolulu.

[4] He was also named after King William IV of the United Kingdom, a great friend of the Hawaiian royal family.

[11][12] According to one of his cousins, Elizabeth Kekaaniau, Lunalilo was groomed to one day assume the Governorship of Oahu after Kekūanaōʻa's death.

[14] As of 1848, at the age of thirteen, he was still one of the largest landowners after the King, inheriting the land and personal property given to his mother father and grandmother by Kamehameha I.

[17] He wrote the song in fifteen minutes in a contest hosted by newspaper publisher Henry Whitney in 1862 for the birthday of Kamehameha IV.

[18] Lunalilo served on the Privy Council of State, the advisory council for the monarch, from 1863 to 1865, during the reign of his cousin King Kamehameha V. He also served on the House of Nobles, the upper house of the legislature, traditionally reserved for the high chiefs, from 1863 to 1872.

After Victoria, he briefly courted the hand of Liliʻuokalani, but she broke off the engagement on the advice of Kamehameha IV.

Liliʻuokalani would eventually marry American John Owen Dominis and Victoria Kamāmalu would die unmarried and childless at the age of 27 in 1866.

[21][22][23] Another alleged prospective bride was a maternal cousin Miriam Auhea Kekāuluohi Crowningburg, who married a German-American settler instead.

He issued the following message six days after the death of Kamehameha V: "Whereas, it is desirable that the wishes of the Hawaiian people be consulted as to a successor to the Throne, therefore, notwithstanding that according to the law of inheritance, I am the rightful heir to the Throne, in order to preserve peace, harmony and good order, I desire to submit the decision of my claim to the voice of the people.

"[26]Lunalilo, unlike his more conservative opponent, wanted to amend the constitution to make the government more democratic by removing property qualifications for voting.

Queen Emma later wrote in a letter that hundreds of Hawaiians were ready to tear to pieces anyone who opposed Lunalilo.

[31][32][33] At Lunalilo's investiture ceremony, held on January 9, 1873, at Kawaiahaʻo Church, the courtyard was filled to capacity and a large crowd watched from outside.

"[23][35] When Lunalilo assumed the duties of the king, a huge change in the government's policy began to form.

To make such a treaty, many thought that the Kingdom would have to offer the Pearl Harbor area to the United States in exchange.

This was due to a feud between Lunalilo and the Kamehameha family over his mother Kekāuluohi's exclusion from the list of royalty to be buried there.

During this procession, eyewitness reports stated that a sudden storm arose, and that twenty-one rapid thunderclaps echoed across Honolulu which came to be known as the "21-gun salute.

[48] In his will, Lunalilo set aside lands for the establishment of the Lunalilo Home, the first charitable trust established by a Hawaiian aliʻi trust, to house the poor, destitute, and infirmed people of Hawaiian descent, with preference given to older people.