page_title: Curtis P. Iaukea
section_title: Reign of Kalākaua
hierarchical_section_title: Curtis P. Iaukea / Service to the monarchy / Reign of Kalākaua
caption_attribution_description: English: Curtis Piʻehu Iʻaukea (1855–1940).
context_page_description: Colonel Curtis Piʻehu Iaukea served as a court official, army officer and diplomat of the Kingdom of Hawaii. He later became an influential official for the subsequent regimes of the Provisional Government and the Republic and the Territory of Hawaii.
  Iaukea was raised from an early age to serve the Hawaiian royal family. He first gained prominence during the reign of King Kalākaua when he served as an important court official and an army officer in the volunteer army of the Kingdom of Hawaii. He held numerous significant positions including governor of Oahu and chamberlain to the Royal Household. He also served as Hawaii's ambassador to Europe and Asia, attending the coronation of Tsar Alexander III of Russia and the Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria. Iaukea received numerous Hawaiian honors and foreign decorations during his service to the kingdom. Following the overthrow of the monarchy, he continued to work for the subsequent regimes of the Provisional Government and the Republic of Hawaii. He served as an officer on the military staff of President Sanford B. Dole and represented the Republic at the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria.
context_section_description: Following the short reign of Lunalilo, King Kalākaua ascended to the throne of Hawaii in 1874. During a tour of the island of Hawaii, Iaukea caught the eye of the new king who commanded him to return to the royal court. He became a personal aide to the king's younger brother, and former schoolmate, Prince William Pitt Leleiohoku. Both men were of a similar age and shared the same interest in sports and music. He became a member of the 
  Kawaihau Glee Club, sponsored by the Prince and his friends, which competed with the singing clubs of the king, Princess Liliʻuokalani and Princess Likelike. Liliʻuokalani noted her brother's group "consisted in a large degree of the very purest and sweetest male voices to be found amongst the native Hawaiians". In later life, Iaukea recalled, "Happy days those were; the days when 'Wine, Women and Song' were the rule of the day." The Prince died on April 7, 1877.
  On April 15, 1878, Iaukea was commissioned as captain of the Prince's Own Artillery Corps, Company A. This unit was a voluntary military regiment reorganized in 1874 and originally headed by King Kalākaua. At this time, the army of the Kingdom of Hawaii consisted of five volunteer companies, including the Prince's Own, and the regular troops of the King's Household Guard. Each unit was subject to being called for active service when necessary. On November 29, 1878, Iaukea was also appointed to King Kalākaua's personal military staff, with the rank of colonel. The reign of Kalakaua was characterized by his emphasis on military pomp. On October 4, 1886, Iaukea was created adjutant general to the Forces of the Kingdom, succeeding upon the resignation of Charles T. Gulick. According to the military act of 1886, as adjutant general, he was the second-in-command after John Owen Dominis, who was appointed lieutenant general and commander-in-chief with the king as supreme commander and generalissimo.
  At different times during the king's reign he held the important posts of tax collector for Koolaupoko, member of the Privy Council of State, commissioner to the Great International Fisheries Exhibition in London, member of the Board of Health, disbursing agent for the Royal Guard, collector general of Customs, commissioner of Crown Lands and land agent, and private secretary to the king, as well as other minor positions and appointments. He served as chamberlain to the Royal Household from 1886 to 1888, succeeding to this post upon the resignation of Charles Hastings Judd. After Dominis' appointment as lieutenant general, Iaukea was appointed as his successor as the governor of Oahu. He served in this position from October 4, 1886, to August 5, 1887, when Dominis was reappointed to the post.
  From 1880 to 1883 he served as the secretary of the Foreign Office. In this capacity, he worked as the chief clerk and secretary for Minister of Foreign Affairs William Lowthian Green and later Green's successor Walter Murray Gibson. After a period in the service of this new foreign minister, he was asked to resign by Gibson who appointed his friend Joseph S. Webb to the position instead. Iaukea returned to serve as a staff member of the king, fast becoming a favorite in the royal entourage. During Kalākaua's coronation ceremony in 1883, he played a large ceremonial role as the bearer of the Sword of State, while his wife served as one of the ladies-in-waiting to Queen Kapiʻolani. 
  Following the coronation ceremony, the king informed Iaukea that he and his cabinet had commissioned him as the head of a diplomatic trip around the world. Iaukea was taken aback by the honor since he had no experience in diplomacy and was only twenty-eight at the time. In this role, Iaukea would become the most traveled member of the Hawaiian administration after Kalākaua who had made a similar world tour in 1881. Commissioned as the kingdom's ambassador with the rank of envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary, he represented Hawaii at the coronation of Tsar Alexander III of Russia on May 27, 1883, and led a subsequent diplomatic tour of the courts of Europe and Japa
caption: Colonel Iaukea as a young officer, 1878
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