On March 7, 1852, Kapiʻolani married High Chief Bennett Nāmākēhā, a member of the House of Nobles in Honolulu.[18] She was almost eighteen years old, while her husband was thirty years her senior. He was an uncle of Queen Emma, the wife of Kamehameha IV, on her father George Naʻea's side. This made her aunt by marriage to Queen Emma, whom she served as her highest ranking lady-in-waiting.[19][20] Nāmākēhā and Kapiʻolani had no children, although a pregnancy resulted in a miscarriage.[21] For his health the couple voyaged on The Morning Star, a missionary vessel, for months among the Gilbert Islands (present day Kiribati) but in vain.