I am grateful to Atkinson descendant Pippa Smith for passing on to me a memoir from her grandmother, Marjorie Whitehead (née Gibbons), who was grand-daughter in turn of Alatau Atkinson. Marjorie’s three-page note sets out all she knew about the visit of Edward, Prince of Wales, to the home of her uncle Robert Witlam Atkinson in Pearl Harbor in April 1920.

Marjorie recalls that she and her mother were visiting Hawaii from their home in England when the Prince arrived on the islands on his way to Australia. She was at the ball at the Armory mentioned in the previous article, from where she was whisked away to Robert Atkinson’s house. “But what an unexpected scene met our eyes! Beside the big kamani tree near the house a Hawaiian feast had been laid on the ground and near the gate an entrancing smell was coming from the ‘imu‘ (underground oven) where the pig was being roasted whole, by means of hot stones inside. The tables only a few inches off the floor were decorated and covered with leaves, there were bowls of beautiful fruit and places laid for about thirty guests”.

Robert Atkinson’s house in Pearl Harbor, built entirely from local materials.

A small grass hut had been built in the garden where a Hawaiian band, singers and hula dancers were waiting for the Prince to arrive. When he did so he was sat at the head of the table with the two princesses from the Hawaiian Royal Family. The entertainment began and soon after Marjorie was presented to Prince Edward: “I had been deputed to show the Prince the swimming pool and offer him a dip, but this he refused, so I took him over to the two princesses and went to see what fate had in store for me, as the pig had been taken out of the oven and the meal about to begin.”

All too soon the evening was over, with the guests singing Aloha Oe to the Prince as he departed. “What an evening it had been, never to be forgotten and a happy memory for all time!” wrote Marjorie, who passed away in November 1986, aged 90.