Kaʻiulani died of inflammatory rheumatism, at her home at ʻĀinahau, on Monday, March 6, 1899, at the age of 23. Later, George W. Macfarlane, a family friend and King Kalākaua's chamberlain, told a reporter from the "San Francisco Call" that the princess possibly died of a broken heart. Kaʻiulani had loved peacocks, growing up around a flock originally belonging to her mother at ʻĀinahau. She would sometimes be called the "Peacock Princess". Her beloved peacocks could be heard screaming in the night when she died. It was later determined that the late-night activities and lights likely agitated the birds, but others still believed that the peacocks were mourning her death. Native Hawaiian protocol dictated that the body of an "aliʻi" (royal) could only be moved after midnight following death and had to be interred on the sabbath. She lay in her own home until Saturday, March 11, when her body was moved just after midnight. The route from ʻĀinahau to the lying in state at Kawaiahaʻo Church became a growing funeral procession as native Hawaiians fell in line with lit torches and wailed mournfully.