Abigail Kinoiki Kekaulike Kawānanakoa

Abigail K. K. Kawānanakoa
File:Abigail Kinoiki Kekaulike Kawānanakoa a0002554.jpg
Born	(1926-04-23)April 23, 1926 Honolulu, Oahu, Territory of Hawaii, U.S.
Died
Occupation	Rancher equestrian philanthropist
Spouse(s)	Veronica Gail Worth (m. 2017)
Parents	William Jeremiah Ellerbrock (father) Lydia Liliuokalani Kawānanakoa Abigail Campbell Kawānanakoa (adoptive) (mother)
Family	Kawānanakoa

Abigail Kinoiki Kekaulike Kawānanakoa (April 23, 1926 – December 11, 2022), sometimes called Kekau, was a member of the House of Kawānanakoa. She was referred to by many as a princess, a common honorary bestowed to descendants of titled subjects of the Kingdom of Hawaii or important figures in Hawaiian history, although she held no official title or role in the Hawaiian state government.

Birth and early life

Kawānanakoa was the only child of Lydia Liliuokalani Kawānanakoa, born during her marriage with an Irish American William Jeremiah Ellerbrock. At the age of six, she was legally adopted by her grandmother, Princess Abigail Campbell Kawānanakoa, in the Hawaiian tradition of hānai with the intention that she remain a direct heir to a possible restoration of the kingdom. As Liliʻuokalani's great-grandniece, she was considered by some to be heir apparent should restoration of the monarchy occur. In 1986, she told an interviewer that the heir apparent was her cousin Edward A. Kawānanakoa, but joked that she would be the "power behind the throne."

Kawānanakoa was educated at Punahou School in Honolulu, the Shanghai American School in Shanghai from 1938 to 1939, and Notre Dame High School in Belmont, California, from which she graduated in 1943. She attended Dominican College in San Rafael, California from 1943 to 1944, and studied at the University of Hawaii in 1945.

Equine endeavors

Kawānanakoa was an expert horsewoman and owner of ranches in Hawaii, California, and Washington State. She was a 20-year cumulative breeder of AQHA quarter horses. Her horses’ many victories include the 1993 All American Futurity (G1) with A Classic Dash and the 1995 Los Alamitos Million Futurity (G1, now the Los Alamitos Two Million Futurity) with Evening Snow. After winning "the richest race in the quarter horse world", she retired A Classic Dash from racing to stand at her Lakeview Quarter Horse Ranch in California. Due to her support of the equine medicine program at Colorado State University, in May 2016, she was awarded an honorary degree.

Family legacy

File:Abigail Kinoiki Kekaulike Kawānanakoa a0006586.jpg

Abigail Kawānanakoa as guest of honour at the Merrie Monarch Festival, 2013

Kawānanakoa was the president of the Friends of ʻIolani Palace from 1971 to 1998, succeeding her mother, who founded the organization. In June 1992, Kawānanakoa pleaded with activists to hold further sovereignty demonstrations away from the palace after 32 demonstrators attempted to enter the building. The palace was built by her great-granduncle, King David Kalākaua. She was active in various causes for the preservation of native Hawaiian culture, including the restoration of ‘Iolani Palace.

Kawānanakoa was heiress to the largest stake in the estate of her great-grandfather, James Campbell, a 19th-century industrialist from Ireland. When the estate was converted into a corporation in 2007, her share was estimated to be about US$250 million.

In 2013 Kawānanakoa requested to be buried in a new crypt at the Royal Mausoleum of Hawaii at Mauna ʻAla directly adjacent to the Wyllie Tomb. The request was approved by the State Land Board in April 2013, but the decision has become controversial in the Hawaiian community.

In October 2017, Kawānanakoa married Veronica Gail Worth, in Honolulu. The couple were married in a ceremony performed at the home of Justice Steven Levinson. In 2017 Kawānanakoa had a medical episode. In a handwritten letter by her to the media, she explained her firing of her former attorney James Wright. Wright, a trustee for the multimillion-dollar Abigail K. K. Kawananakoa Revocable Living Trust has made accusations that Worth has abused her 92 year old spouse. Michael Rudy, Worth's attorney, and Michael A. Lilly, Kawānanakoa's attorney, have both denied the allegations. First Hawaiian Bank succeeded Wright as trustee in 2018.

Kawānanakoa died on December 11, 2022, at the age of 96. Her death was announced in the Hawaiian language at ʻIolani Palace. Governor Josh Green ordered all flags to be flown at half-mast out of respect for Kawānanakoa.