Hawaii's "last princess" Abigail Kinoiki Kekaulike Kawānanakoa’s death was announced on Monday outside Honolulu’s ‘Iolani Palace, the only royal residence in the United States.
Princess Abigail had Irish roots in Derry, with her great-grandfather James Campbell was a native of Derry who became a successful businessman in Hawaii.
Paula Akana, the executive director of the Iolani palace, walked down the palace steps and driveway to read the announcement in Hawaiian, the Associated Press reports.
A news release later said she died peacefully in her Honolulu home with her wife, Veronica Gail Kawānanakoa, at her side.
Princess Abigail’s wife said in a statement: “Abigail will be remembered for her love of Hawaii and its people,”
She added: “I will miss her with all of my heart.”
Kawānanakoa held no formal title but was a living reminder of Hawaii’s monarchy and a symbol of Hawaiian national identity that endured after the kingdom was overthrown by American businessmen in 1893.
Her grandfather James Campbell left Ireland at the age of 13 on a ship bound for Canada and later joined his brother John in New York City.
In 1850 - after surviving a shipwreck in the South Pacific, he was held prisoner, escaping, and settling in Tahiti for several years.
Campbell boarded a whaling ship that docked in the port of Lahaina on the Hawaiian island of Maui.
There, Campbell married Hannah Barla, who died in 1858.
In 1860, the Derry native established the Pioneer Mill Company, a sugar-processing plant that went on to produce sugar until 1999, with his entrepreneur partners Henry Turton and James Dunbar.
Dunbar sold out of the business early on. The partners also bought the Lahaina Sugar Company when it went bankrupt in 1863, Irish central reports.
James Campbell, her great-grandfather, was an Irish businessman who made his fortune as a sugar plantation owner and one of Hawaii’s largest landowners.
He had married Abigail Kuaihelani Maipinepine Bright.
Their daughter, Abigail Wahiika‘ahu‘ula Campbell, married Prince David Kawānanakoa, who was named an heir to the throne.
Their daughter Lydia Morris had Abigail with her husband William Jeremiah Ellerbrock.
After the prince died, his widow adopted their grandchild, the young Abigail, which strengthened her claim to a princess title.
She acknowledged in an interview with Honolulu Magazine in 2021 that had the monarchy survived, her cousin Edward Kawānanakoa would be in line to be the ruler, not her.
“Of course, I would be the power behind the throne, there’s no question about that,” she joked.
Known to family and close friends as “Kekau,” she received more Campbell money than anyone else and amassed a trust valued at about $215 million.
She funded various causes over the years, including scholarships for Native Hawaiian students, opposing Honolulu’s rail transit project, supporting protests against a giant telescope, donating items owned by King Kalākaua and Queen Kapiʻolani for public display, including a 14-carat diamond from the king’s ring, and maintaining Iolani Palace.
Governor. Josh Green ordered the U.S. and Hawaii state flags to be flown at half-staff at the state Capitol and state offices until sunset this Sunday, saying “Hawaii mourns this great loss.”
Critics have said because there are other remaining descendants of the royal family who don’t claim any titles, Kawānanakoa was held up as the last Hawaiian princess simply because of her wealth and honorific title.
“She was always called princess among Hawaiians because Hawaiians have acknowledged that lineage,” Kimo Alama Keaulana, assistant professor of Hawaiian language and studies at Honolulu Community College, said in a 2018 interview.
“Hawaiians hold dear to genealogy. And so genealogically speaking, she is of high royal blood.”
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