Queen regent of Hawaii after the death of her husband Kamehameha, she governed the islands for thirteen years and learned to read as an adult. She had laws written down, travelled the islands, and died in 1832 just before dawn, worrying about the health of the minister sitting with her.
In their own words
Therefore, do I bear his yoke, with this thought concerning myself, that I am not able to put forth strength adequate to carry his yoke, but of him is the ability, his aid to me, by night and by day; there am I abiding continually by his righteousness and his love to me.
Letter to Jeremiah Evarts, 11 September 1831, in Hiram Bingham, A Residence of Twenty-One Years in the Sandwich Islands, 2nd ed., Hartford, 1848, pp. 413-414; English from the Hawaiian by Hiram Bingham (d. 1869), punctuation adapted
My intention is to fulfil the charge left me by my husband, to take care of his children, and to take care of the islands.
Words of 16 June 1830, in Hiram Bingham, A Residence of Twenty-One Years in the Sandwich Islands, 2nd ed., Hartford, 1848, pp. 372-373; English from the Hawaiian by Hiram Bingham (d. 1869)
I will go to him, and shall be comforted.
Words spoken as she was dying, June 1832, in Hiram Bingham, A Residence of Twenty-One Years in the Sandwich Islands, 2nd ed., Hartford, 1848, p. 433; English from the Hawaiian by Hiram Bingham (d. 1869)