By Tiffany Edwards Hunt

It seems fitting that Kaleo’onalani Mei-Ling Francisco has a framed portrait of Queen Lili’uokalani in her dining room.

Noting what hardship Lili’uokalani endured 117 years ago by being deposed, having the monarchy abrogated, then arrested and imprisoned at ‘Iolani Palace, Francisco says, "I figure patriotic people have pictures of their president. I should have a picture of the queen."

Indeed. Francisco is this year’s Merrie Monarch queen, re-enacting the revered Hawaiian tradition of the monarchy alongside this year’s king, Aaron Ka Pomai’i Kaleo, an 11-year veteran of the Hawaii Police Department.

In real life, Francisco is married to Nick Kalamakani Francisco and the mother of four sons, Kalamakua, Aulanikailoa, Tyler Lokahi, and Kahoku’okekaihawanawana Kimo, who passed away a few years ago.

Along with being a middle-aged woman, to be Merrie Monarch queen, you have to have Hawaiian ancestry. Francisco is a descendent of Kalanikauika’aleno Keopuolani. Her mother is Mei-Ling Manuwa Green and her father is Phil Arellano. She is third in a line of seven children. She, her four sisters and her two brothers grew up on O’ahu. Francisco, off and on for 30 years, has made the Big Island her home and, in the last several years, settled in Puna’s Leilani Estates.

She and her husband founded Ho’ai, a non-profit organization focused on growing dry land kalo; a dream they had since they met. The Franciscos make a point of sharing the kalo with kupuna.

Francisco volunteers at her son’s preschool and with the Hilo Grandmothers’ Club. She is a member of ‘Ahahui Ka’ahumanu, or Ka’ahumanu Society, which is akin to a Hawaiian civic club but is actually one of four royal societies in Hawai’i. Named after Queen Ka’ahumanu, the formal society is historic and symbolic, with a goal to perpetuate Hawaiian culture and serve as a reminder of Hawaiian nobility.

"I think if you want to be queen, you should belong to kupuna clubs," Francisco says, grinning and laughing, before "just kidding."

Francisco finds fulfillment working with kupuna, but also by farming. Specifically, she enjoys working with kalo. "Hawaiians lived off the land, they were sustainable – they were engineers, too, because they had to figure out all the auwai, all the waterways, and they knew what plants did what. They were really knowledgeable people. I think we should go back to that simplicity, not have to rely on the barge bringing us all this food. You don’t have to grow a whole bunch of food – some taro, some sweet potatoes, some bananas, you’re not going to starve. Trade with the fisherman," she suggests.

Francisco is certainly down-to-earth, but beyond the jeans and the hair pulled back in the pony tail lies an urge to transform from dirt-digging waterman to fairy princess — or, in this case, Merrie Monarch queen.

Francisco got lucky this year.

Ordinarily, Merrie Monarch organizers reuse gowns that they have, altering the gowns to fit the selected queens. But this year Merrie Monarch organizers commissioned Iris Viacrusis, a dressmaker with word-of-mouth acclaim who resides in Hawaiian Paradise Park.

"Iris is a really, really good designer, and he’s quick," Francisco notes. "He’s good, he’s detail oriented – I think he made the dress in a week and a half and I only went to maybe two fittings tops before I put on the final gown, which is really amazing."

The late Uncle George Na’ope, the Merrie Monarch Hula Festival’s founding father, was at a fashion show in which Viacrusis’ work was shown. Viacrusis featured a dress reminiscent of the 1800s, the same period as the Merrie Monarch, King David Kalakaua. Na’ope, in what ultimately would have been among his last wishes being that he died in October 2009, told George DeMello, who along with Luana Kawelu and U’ilani Peralto are the key Merrie Monarch organizers, he wanted Viacrusis’ gown to be featured in the Merrie Monarch.

Merrie Monarch organizers loved the turquoise, 100 percent brocade silk gown, which Merrie Monarch attendees will be able to see Francisco wearing in the photograph of her and the king that is printed in the program. DeMello, Kawelu and Peralto loved the dress so much they commissioned Viacrusis to make a second dress for Francisco for this year’s Merrie Monarch. It is red, off-the-shoulder, with black ornamental beading, and, like the turquoise silk gown, has a train.

"The dress that Uncle George Na’ope first saw is the dress I will be using on Friday night," Francisco explains. "He never got to see all the pretty dresses – well, he’s going to see them from where he’s at. But he got to see the dress I’m going to wear on Friday night, which is what Iris’ model was using for the fashion show, that I happened to fit in.

"Before the queens would wear those holoku – one piece dresses that were pretty and shiny," Francisco says. "But I guess in the period – and Iris is really true to the period – there was always a separate skirt and a top. All the gowns I’m going to be wearing are not one piece at all. They are two piece. They would use the skirt in the day and the night, and the top they would change out. The top would be long sleeve and white during the day and, at night, it would be something shiny and fabulous, and you would reuse the skirt."

Francisco will never forget the moment that she tried on one of Viacrusis’ dresses that had been fitted specifically for her.

"I put it on and I’m like, ‘I feel like I’m a princess!’, and he’s like, ‘you’re the queen!’” Francisco recalls, with laughter. “I put it on, and it was perfect for me. I honestly can’t remember the last time I had a gown made for me specifically – I think the last was prom in high school."

And to have something made for you that is going to be saved and reused and carry as much significance as these gowns will is "such an honor," Francisco says.

Another unforgettable moment was the day that DeMello called her to tell her she had been selected as the queen.

"I think I have it saved on my answering machine," she says, laughing. "I was surprised and happy, but I thought maybe it was a joke, too, you know. Uncle George he can be a funny guy."

What does being a queen entail?

"It entails sitting for long periods of time," Francisco says. "I’m serious. You can’t go to the restroom and you can’t eat" for the length of each night’s shows, essentially from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m.

"If the king has to go to the bathroom, the show stops. The whole show has to stop for the king. If they’re going to go according to custom, the way it was done before. Actually, it doesn’t have to stop for the queen. If the queen goes, she can sneak away, but they don’t really want you to do that. There is so much material and fabric underneath (the dress) you have to have somebody carrying the train that it’s going to cause a diversion. There is an intermission. That would be an ideal time for the queen to go to the restroom." But then everyone else is going to the bathroom. "You don’t want to kick people out of line, right?"

Aside from not going to the bathroom or falling asleep during the show, the queen and king cannot show any sort of favoritism toward any dancer or halau.

"And you cannot whoop it up like everybody else if it’s a great performance," Francisco notes. "You know when you go to the golf tournaments and everyone has their little silent claps? But inside you’re like woohoo! I do that every Merrie Monarch, jump up and down and whoop it up."

How will she contain herself sitting there on the throne?

"I think I’m going to pinch the inside of my hand or pinch my leg or something," Francisco says. "I may not. You might see me standing up and whooping it up. Sorry, Uncle George, so much for the golf clap."

See Francisco, the king and their royal court tonight at 6 p.m. at the Edith Kanaka’ole Tennis Stadium. For more information about this annual event, visit merriemonarch.com.