# Hawaii's Story by Hawaii's Queen/Chapter 26

CHAPTER XXVI
THE PRINCE OF WALES, “GRAND MASTER” MASON
We were all too much fatigued to think of going out again that evening. Entertainment after entertainment followed in an endless variety, and on too grand a scale to think of enumerating them all, or even of mentioning the many ways in which the royal family of England showed its hospitality towards us. Amongst those who attended me personally, besides the Duke of Edinburgh, I must not forget to notice attentions from Prince Louis of Battenberg and the Grand Duke Sergius of Russia. One evening, after a grand reception, a ball was given at the palace, to which all royalty went to pay their respects to the first gentleman of England, the Prince of Wales, and his amiable wife.
Queen Kapiolani and I were conducted to seats on the dais, where the Princess of Wales, Princess Louise of Lorne, and other members of Her Majesty’s household, were seated. It was an excellent point from which to see the dancing, which soon began. While watching the dance, I happened to glance down to the farther end of the hall, and saw the Marquis of Lorne bend his arm cordially about that of my husband, Governor Dominis, and pace to and fro with him about the hall, the two gentlemen seemingly much interested in each other ​as they engaged in prolonged and pleasant conversation. The entertainment went gayly on until a late hour, and as usual the first movement to retire was made on the part of the royal family; after which the guests began to take leave of each other, and we returned to our hotel.
There was one day set apart during the Jubilee for a Masonic Celebration; and from the grand crowd of visitors assembled in London to do honor to the occasion, invitations were sent to all members of that fraternity. The response was general, and at eleven o'clock of the day appointed the visiting brethren met at Prince Albert Hall. The arrangements were carried to such perfection that each person was conducted without the least confusion to a seat which had been assigned to him. My husband, Governor Dominis, wearing the regalia to which his rank as a Mason of the thirty-third degree entitled him, upon reaching the entrance indicated by the terms of the invitation he had received, found an usher in attendance to escort him to his place. After exchanging the signs and tokens of mutual recognition, he passed into the hall, and his guide conducted him through the vast assembly of the brotherhood. He had not the least idea as to what part of the chamber he was assigned, but followed in the footsteps of the gentleman in whose care he had been intrusted.
Soon they passed in front of the dais, or raised platform, commanding a view of the whole audience. On this was seated the Grand Master of the assembled representatives of the Freemasonry of the world, none ​other than H. R. H., the Prince Royal, Albert Edward of Wales. As Governor Dominis passed in front of the Grand Master, still ignorant of his own position, Masonic salutations were exchanged; and much to his surprise my husband found himself conducted up to the platform, where on the right of the Prince of Wales the third seat had been assigned to him. His astonishment was succeeded by emotions of pride. Governor Dominis was always a most unassuming man; not at all eager to put himself forward, never presuming in the least to encroach on the rights or privileges of others. But when he found himself thus placed in one of the highest and most honorable of positions, it was undoubtedly enough to make his bosom glow, But he valued the honor as a Mason more than as a man; for it was the recognition of his place in an organization whose bond of union was that of brotherly love, and whose ancient and noble rites these high-born or royally connected persons from every part of the globe had assembled to celebrate.
In that great assembly over which the royal prince presided, and into whose upturned faces my husband had the joy of looking, were more than ten thousand men of the different degrees of the order. Prayer was offered by one of the grand chaplains; and the princely Grand Master then rose and initiated the ceremonies by giving out the national anthem, “God Save the Queen,” which was sung by all present with an ardor and fervor seldom excelled. United in their bond of affection and brotherly kindness, their hearts were also filled with the spirit of the Jubilee which had allowed ​them to meet in this grand assembly. It was an occasion to fill all present with a sense of its grandeur and importance; and when my husband returned to me his feelings and sentiments were too profound for expression, too lasting to allow him ever to forget. The usual forms and ceremonies of a Masonic gathering, known and understood only by those of the fraternity itself, had been, I was told, most impressively rendered, and gave great satisfaction to all.
My husband was always a most conscientious Mason, and fulfilled to the letter his duties as a friend and a brother to his order. Many a charitable deed towards the poor of the fraternity was done by him of which no one ever spoke, because no one knew anything about them at the time. Large sums of money have been contributed by him for the purpose of extricating brethren of the Masonic order from financial or other difficulties. These amounts were rarely returned to him; perhaps he had not expected that they would be paid. At any rate, nothing was said of them; but when his papers fell into my hands for examination at his death, they were disclosed to me, and I recognized what a great amount of good had been done, and what a true and faithful Free Mason Governor Dominis had been his life long. At this time the parties he had assisted had left Hawaii, and possibly had retained no thought of him or their obligation; yet a good action is never lost, and his many and beautiful deeds of generosity are precious to my remembrance, and remain a source of consolation to me to this day.