page_title: Kamehameha III
section_title: Early life
hierarchical_section_title: Kamehameha III / Early life
context_page_description: Kamehameha III was the third king of the Kingdom of Hawaii from 1825 to 1854. His full Hawaiian name is Keaweaweʻula Kīwalaʻō Kauikeaouli Kaleiopapa and then lengthened to Keaweaweʻula Kīwalaʻō Kauikeaouli Kaleiopapa Kalani Waiakua Kalanikau Iokikilo Kīwalaʻō i ke kapu Kamehameha when he ascended the throne.
  Under his reign Hawaii evolved from an absolute monarchy to a constitutional monarchy with the signing of both the 1840 Constitution, which was the first Hawaiian Language Constitution, and the 1852 Constitution. He was the longest reigning monarch in the history of the Kingdom, ruling for 29 years and 192 days, although in the early part of his reign he was under a regency by Queen Kaʻahumanu and later by Kaʻahumanu II.
  His goal was the careful balancing of modernization by adopting Western ways, while keeping his nation intact.
context_section_description: Kauikeaouli was born at Keauhou Bay, on Hawaiʻi island, the largest island of the Hawaiian Islands archipelago. He was the second son of King Kamehameha I and his highest ranking wife, Queen Keōpūolani, born in Maui. Early historians suggested June or July 1814, but one accepted date is August 11, 1813.  Biographer P. Christiaan Klieger cites 17 March 1814 as his birthday.
  He was of the highest kapu lineage. Kauikeaouli was about 16 years younger than his brother Liholiho, who ruled as Kamehameha II starting in 1819. He was named Kauikeaouli (placed in the dark clouds) Kaleiopapa Kuakamanolani Mahinalani Kalaninuiwaiakua Keaweaweʻulaokalani (the red trail or the roadway by which the god descends from heaven) after his maternal grandfather Kīwalaʻō. 
  He was promised to Kuakini in adoption, but as at birth he appeared to be delivered stillborn, Kuakini did not wish to take him.  But Chief Kaikioʻewa summoned his kaula (prophet) Kapihe who declared the baby would live.
  Kauikeaouli was cleansed, laid on a rock, fanned, prayed over and sprinkled with water until he breathed, moved and cried. The prayer of Kapihe was to Kaʻōnohiokalā, "Child of God". The rock is preserved as a monument at Keauhou Bay. He was given to Kaikioʻewa to raise.
  Kauikeaouli had a troubled childhood. He was torn between the Puritan Christian guidelines imposed on the kingdom by the kuhina nui (Queen Regent) who was his stepmother Kaʻahumanu, and the desires to honor the old traditions. Under the influence of Oʻahu's then governor, Boki, and a young Hawaiian-Tahitian priest named Kaomi, Kauikeaouli's aikāne partner, he rebelled against his Christian teachings, created the secret order of Hulumanu (Bird Feather), and named Kaomi his co-ruler in place of Kīnaʻu. By 1835 he had returned to ways of the missionaries.
caption: Painting by Robert Dampier, 1825, Honolulu Museum of Art
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