Timoteo or Timothy Kamalehua Haʻalilio (1808 – December 3, 1844) was a royal secretary and first diplomat of the Kingdom of Hawaii. He is best known for helping Hawaii in gaining recognition from Britain, France, and the United States as an independent sovereign nation. Life Haʻalilio was born early in the 19th century, probably 1808. He was the son Koeleele (or Koelele), and his wife Kipa, in some accounts Eseta (Esther) Kipa. He was the half-brother of Levi Haʻalelea, who later became a husband of Princess Kekauōnohi. He was of the aliʻi class or Hawaiian nobility. He was included in the first English school set up by Hiram Bingham I in Honolulu around April 1821. In 1823 William Richards joined the mission, and became a teacher and friend for the rest of his life. After learning of the death of King Kamehameha II in 1825, Haʻalilio was selected to be the royal secretary of King Kamehameha III. Jean Baptiste Rives who had served as Kamehameha II's secretary had been accused of mismanagement of funds and never returned to Hawaii. He took the Christian name Timothy, which was "Timoteo" in the Hawaiian language spelling. On June 7, 1826, he married Hana Hopua (Hannah Hooper), the daughter of an American father, Hopua and Polunu. The couple had no children and his wife outlived him and inherited some lands in the Great Mahele in 1848. In 1831 the Lahainaluna School was founded, and he continued his education there. In July 1839 he was offered as a hostage during the French Incident. Captain Cyrille Pierre Théodore Laplace described him as: The king's secretary and one of his favorites was a handsome young man of frank, pleasant countenance and good manners; he wore European dress and spoke English quite well. In the 1840 Constitution of the Kingdom of Hawaii, he was included in the first members of the House of Nobles. Haʻalilio was a founding member of the first Hawaiian Historical Society in 1841. On April 8, 1842 he was appointed as the first diplomat of the Kingdom, envoy to the United States, France and Great Britain. Richards would assist him as advisor and translator. In May he was appointed to a treasury board, along with John Papa ʻĪʻī and Gerrit P. Judd. Haʻalilio and Richards left on July 18, 1842 for their diplomatic mission. Instead of sailing via Cape Horn, they went through Mexico