KE AUPUNI UPDATE - JULY 2026
Celebrating Lā Hoʻihoʻi Ea
As the Minister of Foreign Affairs for the Hawaiian Kingdom, I try to be as accurate as possible in sharing with the international community about our history and our situation. This is what I am posting about Lā Hoʻihoʻi Ea.
On February 11, 1843, Captain Lord George Paulet, a British naval officer, sailed his ship into Honolulu to investigate a land complaint by the British Consul to Hawaii. When negotiations with King Kamehameha III did not go his way, Paulet threatened to level Honolulu with cannon fire from his ship. On February 25, 1843, King Kamehameha III signed a provisional cede under threat of war. On March 8, 1843, Paulet took control of the Hawaiian Kingdom on behalf of the British Crown.
Paulet did not know that months earlier, King Kamehameha III had dispatched three envoys — Timoteo Ha’alilio, William Richards and Sir George Simpson — on a diplomatic mission to negotiate with the United States, the United Kingdom and France for formal recognition of the Hawaiian Kingdom as a sovereign country.
Upon learning of Paulet’s brazen seizure of Hawaii, the delegation filed a diplomatic protest with British authorities. Haʻalilio wrote: “These islands are civilized, Christian and independent. Their independence was recognised by the United States on the 19th of December 1842, and by the British Government on the first of April last. We have also a positive verbal promise of the same action acknowledgement by the French Government. Is it possible that a British Officer can have seized the islands on the 8th of March and the British Government acknowledged their independence barely three weeks after?”
On July 26, 1843, British Admiral Richard Thomas, arrived in Honolulu to put an end to Paulet’s illegal takeover. On July 31 at a site now called, Thomas Square (in honor of Admiral Thomas) the British flag was lowered and the Hawaiian flag was raised acknowledging Hawai‘i’s sovereignty and restoring King Kamehameha III as the rightful ruler.
In his remarks of thanksgiving at Kawaiaha‘o Church later that day, King Kamehameha III declared, Ua mau ke eā o ka ‘āina i ka pono (The sovereignty of the land is perpetuated in righteousness). This became the official motto of the Hawaiian Kingdom and later appropriated by the fake “State of Hawaii” as its motto too.
After the return of his Kingdom, King Kamehameha III declared July 31 to be celebrated in perpetuity as Lā Hoʻihoʻi Ea, Sovereignty Restoration Day. From 1843 to 1893, it was joyfully celebrated throughout the Kingdom as a week-long national holiday with patriotic speeches and activities; music, crafts, games, food and community events.
But in 1893, Hawai‘i once again came under an illegal occupation, this time by greedy traitors and seditious foreigners backed by a rogue U.S. foreign minister and a company of fully armed U.S. marines and sailors.
The insurgents banned the celebration of Lā Ho‘iho‘i Ea, along with other national holidays such as Lā Ku‘oko’a (Hawaiiʻs Independence Day). Unlike the British occupation of 1843, that ended in less than 6 months, the 1893 insurgency morphed into the American “Territory of Hawaii”, then today’s fake “State of Hawaii”. The kingdom’s most important holidays faded from memory.
Revived in 1985, by Hawaiian patriots led by Dr. Kekuni Blaisdell, the celebration of Lā Ho‘iho‘i Ea (along with Lā Kuʻokoʻa, November 28) provides historic precedence and credence to our growing campaign to Free Hawaii from foreign occupation.
Aloha ʻĀina —
“Love of country is deep-seated in the breast of every Hawaiian, whatever his station.” — Queen Liliʻuokalani
Ua mau ke ea o ka ʻāina i ka pono.
The sovereignty of the land is perpetuated in righteousness.
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For the latest news and developments about our progress at the United Nations in both New York and Geneva, tune in to Free Hawaii News at 7 PM, the first Friday of each month on ʻŌlelo Television, Channel 53.
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Malama Pono,
Leon Siu
Hawaiian National
Minister of Foreign Affairs for the Hawaiian Kingdom (since 2001)
