Campbell Estate heiress Abigail Kawananakoa, 91, married her longtime partner and private secretary, 64-year-old Veronica Gail Worth, in a private ceremony in Manoa Sunday.

The marriage comes three and a half months after Kawananakoa suffered a stroke and in the middle of a legal battle over the woman’s $200 million trust, with lingering questions about her mental capacity and ability to handle her own financial affairs.

An announcement about the marriage was distributed to the press Monday, saying the ceremony was officiated by retired Hawaii Supreme Court Justice Steven Levinson.

“Both Princess Kawananakoa and Veronica could not be happier to have sanctified their longtime loving relationship and wish to express their deepest appreciation to all close friends and loved ones for their congratulations and best wishes for a long healthy and happy marriage together,” it said Monday.

The one-page announcement, emailed on stationery with Kawananakoa’s Royal Order of Kaumualii seal, added that a small celebration for family members and loved ones would be announced shortly.

The battle over Kawananakoa’s fortune flared up after she suffered a stroke June 18 that prompted her then-attorney, James Wright, to seek control of the trust.

Circuit Judge R. Mark Browning granted an emergency petition giving Wright control in a move that was spelled out in a successorship plan previously set up by Kawananakoa in case she became incapacitated.

But Worth stepped forward to challenge the declaration, insisting that Kawananakoa is mentally capable of handling her own affairs, and her attorneys said she is merely seeking to return control of the trust to Kawananakoa.

Wright, meanwhile, has said that Worth is manipulating Kawananakoa in a power play to gain control of the woman’s fortune.

What impact the marriage will have on the court dispute is uncertain. State Deputy Attorney General Hugh Jones said it shouldn’t necessarily have a legal bearing.

“It’s an interesting development,” said Jones, head of the attorney general’s Tax and Charities Division.

More important, he said, is the opinion of a special master that Browning appointed to investigate the circumstances of the case, interview all the parties and obtain medical evaluations before making a recommendation to the judge.

“The attorney general is awaiting the outcome of this process,” Jones said.

In an interview Monday, Levinson said he talked to both Kawananakoa and Worth at length before the ceremony at his residence in Manoa.

While admitting that as a lay person, his impressions would not be considered expert, he said Kawananakoa appeared to be healthy and mentally fit.

“Abigail seemed quite cognitively acute to me,” Levinson said. “Abigail was recalling a lot of specific details of her past.”

Levinson said he was satisfied both parties were serious about getting married and that he wouldn’t have gone through with the ceremony if he didn’t think Kawananakoa was “with it.”

The former associate justice added that he doesn’t question motivations for any marriage.

Levinson was on the high court from 1992 to 2008. He was the justice who wrote the 1993 opinion in the case Baehr v. Lewin, which said the state needed to show a compelling interest for denying marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

Today, he serves as a member of the board of directors of the ACLU of Hawaii and Equality Hawaii, the state’s largest LGBT advocacy organization.

As for the legal dispute over Kawananakoa’s trust money, both sides have agreed to stay silent about the case. The parties agreed to refrain from making any comments to the news media regarding the merits of the case, and have agreed to not show any court filings and submissions to the news media, including any public or sealed documents.

They previously accused each other of questionable maneuvers in an effort to seize control of a fortune that includes the Abigail K.K. Kawananakoa Foundation, which was set up by Kawananakoa to become a charity underwriting Native Hawaiian causes following her death.

Wright has said he would present evidence in court showing that Kawananakoa faces both physical and financial danger under the influence of Worth.

Wright has also said Worth tried to have $30,000 transferred from Kawananakoa’s account to her own and had previously attempted to obtain $26 million in James Campbell Co. stock. When that was refused, the girlfriend separated from her partner until she returned only after news of the stroke, the attorney said.

Earlier, Wright said doctors had declared Kawananakoa mentally unfit, prompting him to take control of her affairs to protect the trust and especially the foundation, which ultimately was expected to be worth about $100 million.

In August, Kawananakoa released a statement through Worth’s lawyer, Michael Rudy, that she is “alive and well after suffering a minor attack” and certainly capable of handling her own affairs.

In her note, the philanthropist and activist also said she fired Wright because “he was not following my wishes and he was mismanaging my financial affairs.”