What is the Polynesian Kingdom of Atooi?

The Polynesian Kingdom of Atooi is an Indigenous governing body based on Kauaʻi, formed in its present constitution in 1990. It holds that it continues the lineage and legal standing of the Hawaiian Kingdom. That is the Kingdom's own position; it is not a member or observer of the United Nations and holds no instrument of recognition from any state.

Who is the Aliʻi Nui of the Kingdom of Atooi?

Aliʻi Nui Aleka Aipoalani is Head of State as designated by the Polynesian Kingdom of Atooi. The Kingdom maintains a genealogical claim to the aliʻi of Kauaʻi; that lineage is held in Kingdom and custodial records and is not established by an independent published genealogy in this archive.

What is the Kingdom's position on the 1893 overthrow?

United States Public Law 103-150 (1993) acknowledges that the 1893 overthrow occurred without the consent of the Native Hawaiian people. The Kingdom's position is that Hawaiian sovereignty was therefore never lawfully extinguished. The United States position is that Hawaiʻi is a state of the Union, and no court has ruled in the Kingdom's favour on this question. UNDRIP addresses Indigenous peoples generally and is not a recognition instrument.

How is the Kingdom of Atooi related to King Kamehameha and the Hawaiian Kingdom?

The Kingdom asserts descent from the aliʻi lines of the pre-unification kingdoms of Hawaiʻi, and maintains treaties, decrees and a ceremonial record. These are Kingdom-held records; the archive labels each with its evidence class rather than presenting them as independently verified.

R. Welch with the Aliʻi Nui and Kingdom representative

Diplomatic Record · PKA-DIP-2024-011

Kingdom Archives

R. Welch with the Aliʻi Nui and Kingdom representative

Record class

Contemporary Atooi Record

Archive period: Contemporary Polynesian Kingdom of Atooi

Historical Hawaiian Kingdom records document the institutions, laws, diplomacy, and governmental activity of the historical Kingdom. Their inclusion does not by itself establish the authority of any particular contemporary claimant. Contemporary claims of continuity, succession, genealogy, or authority are documented separately.

Historical Hawaiian Kingdom documentation establishes historical facts — that a treaty, statute, decree, or diplomatic relation existed. It does not by itself prove the authority of any particular contemporary claimant. Claims of continuity between the historical Hawaiian Kingdom and the contemporary Polynesian Kingdom of Atooi are made and documented separately, on genealogical, customary, and legal grounds; they are classified as continuity claims and are neither established nor diminished by the historical documents themselves.

Description

R. Welch stands with the Aliʻi Nui of the Polynesian Kingdom of Atooi and a tattooed Kingdom representative in feathered regalia during a public Kingdom gathering.

Evidence & Provenance

Archive ID: PKA-DIP-2024-011
Record title: R. Welch with the Aliʻi Nui and Kingdom representative
Date: Diplomatic Record
Location: Kingdom of Atooi
People identified: Not documented in the current archive.
Counterparty: Not documented in the current archive.
Counterparty title: Not documented in the current archive.
Organization / nation: Not documented in the current archive.
Evidence type: Photographic Record
Source: Not documented in the current archive.
Source type: Photograph
Independent corroboration: KINGDOM DOCUMENTATION — Evidence currently comes primarily from Atooi records.
Relationship classification: Royal / Chiefly Relationship · Photographic Documentation
Public / restricted status: Public

What this record establishes

The documented presence, meeting, ceremony, or participation visible in the photograph.

What this record does not establish

A photograph documents that an occasion or meeting took place. It does not establish diplomatic recognition, state recognition, a treaty, government acceptance, or any legal ruling.

Corroboration statuses describe where the supporting evidence for a record currently comes from. They are descriptive categories, not scores or rankings, and they do not grade the importance of a record.

Archive Record

Archive ID: PKA-DIP-2024-011
Record title: R. Welch with the Aliʻi Nui and Kingdom representative
Date: Diplomatic Record
Location: Kingdom of Atooi
Category: Diplomatic Record
Evidence type: Photographic Record
Source type: Photograph
Relationship classification: Royal / Chiefly Relationship · Photographic Documentation
Independent corroboration: Not documented in current archive record
People identified: Not documented in current archive record
Organization / community identified: Not documented in current archive record
Source filename: roger-welch-alii-nui-kingdom-of-atooi.jpg
Status: Public
Archive period: Contemporary Polynesian Kingdom of Atooi
Last reviewed: 2026-09-06

“Last reviewed” refers to the date this archive entry was last editorially reviewed on this website. It is not the date of the historical event.

Archival Metadata

Archive ID: PKA-DIP-2024-011
Evidence classification: Photographic Record
Category: Diplomatic Record
Record type: Photograph
Date: Diplomatic Record
Location: Kingdom of Atooi
Event: Kingdom Gathering with R. Welch
Collection: International Diplomacy
Credit: International Diplomacy
Condition: excellent
Rights: Kingdom of Atooi Archives

Evidence Classification

Photographic Record

A photograph documenting a person, place, object, or occasion.

What this record establishes

The documented presence, meeting, ceremony, or participation visible in the photograph.

What this record does not establish

A photograph documents that an occasion or meeting took place. It does not establish diplomatic recognition, state recognition, a treaty, government acceptance, or any legal ruling.

Archive Categories

Royal / Chiefly Relationship: A documented relationship between the Aliʻi Nui or the Royal House and another hereditary, royal, or chiefly house.
Photographic Documentation: A photograph documenting a person, place, object, or occasion. A photograph documents what is visible in it and establishes nothing beyond that.

These categories represent different forms of relationship and should not be treated as interchangeable.

Traditional, Indigenous, royal, and chiefly recognition is documented on its own terms and is not treated as insignificant merely because it differs from modern interstate diplomatic recognition.

Shared Photograph

This photograph is intentionally referenced by more than one record documenting the same occasion.

This entry is the master photograph record for this image.

Related Records

Other holdings in the archive referring to the same documented place, body, or occasion. A link indicates shared subject matter only.

Journey to Aotearoa — Audiences with Customary Chiefs of the Polynesian Nations, 2012 · Photographic collection · Regalia and the Royal Kala
Audience with Kahu Helemano — Sacred Land of Atooi · Photographic collection · Regalia and the Royal Kala
Meeting at the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences — Vatican City, 2018 · Photographic collection · Regalia and the Royal Kala
Royal Regalia and Insignia of the Crown of Atooi · Photographic collection · Regalia and the Royal Kala
Audience with Customary Chiefs of the Oceanic Nations — Hawaiian Archipelago · Photographic collection · Regalia and the Royal Kala
Investiture of the Federal Marshals of the Polynesian Kingdom of Atooi · Photographic collection · Regalia and the Royal Kala
Meetings with the First Nations of Turtle Island · Photographic collection · Regalia and the Royal Kala
Presentation of the Royal Kala During Visit to United Nations Headquarters · Photographic collection · Regalia and the Royal Kala
Aliʻi Nui with Tahitian chiefs, 2017 · Archive record · Regalia and the Royal Kala
Ceremonial procession at Rapa Nui sacred site · Archive record · Regalia and the Royal Kala

Subjects

R. Welch · Aliʻi Nui · Kingdom Representatives

Access

Certified reproductions and full source files may be requested through the archive access request.