Albert Kamehameha

Death In August 1862, the usually serene child became restless, and his medical condition got progressively worse. The newspapers of the time reported the illness as "brain fever," now known as meningitis. Writing much later, Queen Liliuokalani blamed the father for putting the child under a cold-water faucet as punishment for throwing a tantrum over a pair of boots. The parents did mistake a fever for sunstroke. A modern medical historian and Honolulu physician analyzed the possible causes of Albert's death. They concluded the Prince most likely died from a case of appendicitis. Both the local and British naval doctors did not know the cause nor the treatment of his illness. Queen Victoria consented to being Albert's godmother and sent as a baptismal gift an elaborate silver christening cup, about three feet high.

As the prince's condition declined, Kamehameha IV and Queen Emma made a personal request to Queen Victoria to send a bishop from the Anglican Church to baptize the prince. They also requested Queen Victoria to be his godmother. Queen Victoria consented to both requests, and sent as a baptismal gift an elaborate silver christening cup, about three feet high. Bishop Thomas Nettleship Staley was sent but would not arrive until October. As the prince grew sicker, the American minister Ephraim W. Clark from Kawaiahao Church baptized the child on August 23. The Episcopal liturgy was used with the British Commissioner William Webb Follett Synge standing in for the godparents. Today, the mausoleum is burial site of most of the members of the Hawaiian royal family. The King's depression was so severe that he considered abdicating the throne. A year later, he would die as well. To express her grief, Queen Emma changed her name to Kaleleo(n)ālani "Flight of the Heavenly Chief(s)," to symbolize her double loss.

Legacy His death left his father without a constitutionally recognized heir. Consequently, after his father's death in 1864, the Kuhina Nui (Albert's aunt) had to fill in the vacant office of head of state for a day until the Legislature could decide upon the accession of his uncle as king. Besides the Royal Mausoleum, the four-year-old prince left other marks on Hawaii. The area of Princeville on the island of Kauai was named in honor of the young prince by Scotsman Robert Crichton Wyllie, Minister of Foreign Affairs to Kamehameha III and IV, after a visit by the Kamehameha IV family in 1860. In 1867 Elisha Allen bought the property and developed it into a sugarcane plantation. It was developed into a resort with its main street named Ka Huku Road at .

The road to Kamehameha III's birthplace is named Kaleiopapa Street near Keauhou Bay at on the island of Hawaii. The Leiopapa a Kamehameha Building (the State Office Tower) in downtown Honolulu is also named for him. According to local folklore, his ghost is said to inhabit the building at 235 South Beretania Street.

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