Royal Hotel

History

Mrs Ashley and the Royal.

The Royal, Fiji's oldest hotel represents the finest embodiment of Levuka's colonial past. It's builders surely had sailing ships in mind. The front rooms overlooked the harbour, so that sea captains could keep a watchful eye on their anchored vessels. The port and the passage could be monitored too, from the crow's nest on the roof, which stills stands atop the Royal.

In the 1830s Levuka established itself as a small whaling and beachcomber settlement. It was virtually lawless, ships followed the trail of empty gin bottles through the passage into port and the "town" was a haven for escaped convicts, ship jumpers, debtors and other ne'er-do-wells. But there was of course, capital. By the 1860s, the Royal had established itself as the finest hotel in town and was the place to stay. Ship's masters, plantation owners, even the notorious blackbirder, Bully Hayes, frequented the Royal.

Earliest owners of the Hotel were sea captains Volk and Robbie. Captain Robbie played an important role in the Royal's history and the town of Levuka. He purchased the hotel from Captain Volk as a base for his tea export business. Here he built a storage shed, for tea that was bought over from his plantation on Vanua Levu for export to the markets of Europe. The building still stands on the hotel grounds to this day, though is now used for accommodation. During his ownership, a fire razed the building, Robbie rebuilt the hotel. He was also instrumental in having the Levuka Town Hall built.

Captain Kaad, a Danish copra merchant who was the present owner, Mrs Dorothy Ashley's grand father and business partner to Captain Robbie, followed them. The hotel was then sold to Morris Hedstrom and Co. In 1940, the Ashley's Eddie and Dorothy took the reins from Eddie's father, who was running the establishment for Morris Hedstrom. Dorothy was just 21 yrs old.

Times were hard during the years after the war, when the hotel guest list might have extended to only three and the pub downstairs was only making 20p. But Mrs Ashley has always been there, determined to see those hard times through. Dorothy and Eddie eventually purchased the hotel, and with the passing of her husband in 1978, she continued on, determined to keep their dream alive, which she did up until her loss on May 5th 2004.

Dorothy and Eddie Ashley with Prince Charles (Levuka 1970)