Harriet or Harrieta Keōpūolani Nāhiʻenaʻena (1815–1836) was a high-ranking princess during the founding of the Kingdom of Hawaii and the conversion of some of the ruling class to Christianity.
Nāhiʻenaʻena was the sacred muli loa (last born) child, and was trained for the immense kuleana (privilege and responsibility) that would accompany someone of such high birth.
[2] In 1825, the ship HMS Blonde returned with the bodies of King Kamehameha II and the Queen Kamāmalu, who had died on a trip to London.
Ship's artist Robert Dampier painted a portrait of the ten-year-old princess, dressed in a red feather cloak for the state funeral.
[3] Nāhiʻenaʻena was in love with her brother Kamehameha III[4] and the chiefs strongly encouraged their marriage, but the missionaries were opposed to the union, calling it incest and therefore a sin.
British physician Thomas Charles Byde Rooke, the husband of High Chiefess Grace Kamaʻikuʻi, examined her but was unable to determine the cause of the illness.
Although tradition holds that Nāhiʻenaʻena died on (1836-12-30)December 30, 1836, the actual date of her death is described in the notes of the visiting American naturalist John Kirk Townsend as having been (1837-01-05)January 5, 1837.
[9] On April 12, 1837, her body was brought aboard the ship Don Qixote (purchased and renamed Kai Keōpūolani by her brother), to the resting place at the tomb on the premise of Halekamani in Lāhainā, Maui.