13. Princess Nahienaena’s People Turned Against Her For Incest
Protestant missionaries educated princess Nahienaena of Hawaii in the early 1800s. She was also romantically involved with her brother, King Kamehameha III, since childhood and was all too eager to marry him, much to the chagrin of the missionaries. Tradition ran against the power of the ministers, as the royal family was accustomed to intermarriage to keep the bloodline pure. When the siblings were married in 1825, she was expelled from the church.
Nahienaena was sincerely repentant, as she greatly respected the missionaries. However, her repentance was not accepted by the church, and she was soon found to be pregnant with her brother’s child. With her people now converted, they shunned her, and she lived in isolation until the child’s birth. The baby died within just a few hours, probably because of genetic problems stemming from generations of inbreeding, and the disgraced princess lived the rest of her life in shock and grief. She was finally accepted back into the church shortly before her death.
Age: 21 (1815-1836)
Born: Keauhou, Hawaii