Following the coronation ceremony, the king informed Iaukea that he and his cabinet had commissioned him as the head of a diplomatic trip around the world. Iaukea was taken aback by the honor since he had no experience in diplomacy and was only twenty-eight at the time. In this role, Iaukea would become the most traveled member of the Hawaiian administration after Kalākaua who had made a similar world tour in 1881. Commissioned as the kingdom's ambassador with the rank of envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary, he represented Hawaii at the coronation of Tsar Alexander III of Russia on May 27, 1883, and led a subsequent diplomatic tour of the courts of Europe and Japan. Traveling with his secretary, the part-Hawaiian Henry F. Poor, Iaukea made a favorable impression on the courts of Europe. In Russia, they had an audience with the new tsar and tsarina, met Russian Foreign Minister Nikolay Girs, and socialized on an equal footing with the other foreign dignitaries. Iaukea later noted, "the sight of my country's flag floating over the entrance to the Hotel Duseaux besides those of the United States and Japan, gave me an added incentive to meet the responsibilities that lay ahead and discharge them with honor". The two Hawaiians traveled to the courts of Berlin, Vienna, Belgrade, London, Rome, and India and Japan via the Suez Canal. In London, he visited the International Fisheries Exhibition. In Japan, he met with the Emperor Meiji and helped finalize an immigration plan between Japan and Hawaii previously negotiated by Kalākaua during his world tour.