princess, the only child of Kamehameha I, conqueror and consolidator of the Hawaiian Islands, and his highest ranking wife, Keopuolani. She was sent to a U.S. Protestant missionary school and brought up as a Christian by her mother. Keopuolani's death in 1823 left the child without defense against the influence of both the American missionaries and their opponents, the Hawaiian chiefs, who vied for control over the royal children.

Nahienaena was always close to her brother, Prince Kauikeaouli, later Kamehameha III, and she was more than willing to accede to the chiefs' demands that they marry and produce an heir. The missionaries were vehement in their objections to this incestuous liaison and expelled her from the church when the marriage was consummated in 1834. In 1835 she took Leileiohoku, Chief Kalanimoku's son, as a husband and sought the forgiveness of the missionaries. Her repentance was too late, however, for she was already pregnant with her brother's child. The missionaries ignored her, and her people, now won over to the church, shunned her. She lived in anxious isolation until the child was born, but the infant died shortly after the delivery. Nahienaena never recovered from the shock and, deeply repentant, was at last received into favour by the missionaries shortly before her own death.