Likelike (wife of Kalanimoku)

Likelike
Rikériki, femme du chef Kraïmokou, engraving by J. Alphonse Pellion
Died	March 4, 1821 Honolulu, Oahu
Spouse	Boki Kalanimoku
Issue	Lanihau
Father	Kaikioʻewa
Mother	Nahaukapu

Likelike (died March 4, 1821) was a high chiefess and member of the royal family during the Kingdom of Hawaii. She was a favorite wife of Prime Minister Kalanimoku, a powerful chief and statesman during the early years of the Hawaiian monarchy. Before the standardization of the Hawaiian language, her name was sometime written as Rikériki.

Likelike was born to High Chief Kaikioʻewa and his wife Nahaukapu. She was considered a kaukau aliʻi, of lower-ranking chiefly descent, but was a distant relative of King Kamehameha I on her father's side. A supporter of King Kamehameha I during his conquest of the Hawaiian Islands, her father Kaikioʻewa descended from the ruling family of Hawaii Island and was the kahu (guardian) of Kamehameha III and later served as Governor of Kauai. Her mother descended from the semi-legendary chief Kahaoʻi from the island of Oahu.

Likelike was married firstly to High Chief Boki, the eventual Governor of Oahu. However, sometime afterward, Boki's brother Kalanimoku took Likelike as his wife which prompted Boki to take Kuini Liliha as his wife from her previous husband and Boki's nephew Kahalaiʻa Luanuʻu. Kalanimoku had many other wives including her half-sister Kuwahine, but Likelike was regarded as his favorite wife. Prior to the promulgation of Christian marital laws, Hawaiian high-born chiefesses had the freedom to choose their mates and even abandon or divorce their husbands at will. Historian Samuel Kamakau and American missionary Hiram Bingham I recounted an incident in 1805 when Kalanimoku burned down much of Honolulu and the island of Oahu after Kuwahine deserted him for Kuakini. The burning and destruction of property, which was sanctioned by Kamehameha I, did not cease until she was found and returned to him. Kalanimoku, called The Iron Cable of Hawaii because of his political savvy and military prowess, served as Prime Minister during the reigns of the first three kings of Hawaii and had taken the name "William Pitt" in honor of the British Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger.