Kuhina Nui

Kuhina Nui of Hawaii
Flag of the Kuhina Nui
Style	His/Her Highness
Appointer	King(s) of Hawaii
Precursor	none
Formation	1819
First holder	Kaʻahumanu I
Final holder	Mataio Kekūanāoʻa
Abolished	1864
Succession	none

Kuhina Nui was a powerful office in the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi from 1819 to 1864. It was usually held by a relative of the king and was the rough equivalent of the 19th-century European office of Prime Minister or sometimes Regent.

Prior to the establishment of the office of Kuhina Nui by Kamehameha, there was a position called Kālaimoku ("kālai" meaning "to carve" and "moku" being an island). This was an ancient office from the very dawn of Hawaiian civilization. During this time before the Kuhina Nui Kalanimoku, a trusted chief of Kamehameha, was the Kālaimoku until Kamehameha established the office of the Kuhina Nui. When King Kamehameha II assumed the throne in 1819, his father's favorite wife, Queen Kaʻahumanu, told him Kamehameha I had wished for her to rule the kingdom alongside him. Whether this was really the will of Kamehameha I is a matter of debate. In either case, Kamehameha II did not object and the office of Kuhina Nui was created for Kaʻahumanu. According to other sources, Kamehameha I had wanted Kaʻahumanu to succeed her father Keʻeaumoku Pāpaʻiahiahi as chief counselor.

Kaʻahumanu became the driving force behind the kingdom’s policy during the reign of Kamehameha II. She and another one of Kamehameha I's wives, Keōpūolani, pressured Kamehameha II into abolishing the old kapu system of laws and religion.

At the death of Kamehameha II in 1824, his younger brother and heir Kauikeaouli was still only a child. Because of this, Kaʻahumanu ruled in his place as regent. After her death in 1832, a queen named Kīnaʻu, a daughter of Kamehameha I and the Dowager Queen of Kamehameha II, assumed the office of Kuhina Nui as Kaʻahumanu II and the regency until her half-brother Kauikeaouli declared himself to be of age in 1833. Kauikeaouli was crowned King Kamehameha III thereafter and the office of Kuhina Nui became the second-most powerful office in the kingdom.