At 86, Abigail Kawananakoa made a request last year that some Native Hawaiians had anticipated for decades: burial at Mauna ‘Ala, the Royal Mausoleum.
Her request, approved by the state Board of Land and Natural Resources in April, has been received with both acceptance and vitriol.
"She has no right to be there," insisted Lela Hubbard, chairwoman of the advocacy group Na Koa Ikaika. "She’s been masquerading as a princess and she is not, and people have not called her out on it. That’s the crux of the matter: She’s a fraud, and everybody else has gone along with it."
Hubbard said she and others believe that successorship to the throne ended when the kingdom fell in 1893, and Kawananakoa has no right to the ceremonial title of princess.
The prominent philanthropist, whose genealogy puts her in line with Hawaiian royalty, was born to Lydia Kawananakoa and later legally adopted by her grandmother and grandfather, Abigail and David Kawananakoa. She has assumed the title of princess throughout her life and has been a controversial figure among the Hawaiian community for as long as many can remember.
"She’s done many good things, but I’m offended when somebody takes on airs that really don’t belong to them and (tried) to create a fairy tale where none exists," Hubbard said.
With the land board’s approval, Kawananakoa, now 87, won’t merely be buried at Mauna ‘Ala; she will be allowed to build an additional tomb at the mausoleum to house just her remains, or iwi. That has stirred up additional angst.
But board Chairman William Aila Jr. says a new crypt is needed because the existing one is full.
Attempts to interview Kawananakoa for this story were unsuccessful.
Some say Kawananakoa should be laid to rest on the Kawananakoa family plot at Oahu Cemetery, rather than in an additional tomb on the grounds of Mauna ‘Ala, which hasn’t been disturbed since her uncle and adopted brother, David Kalakaua Kawananakoa, was buried in the Kalakaua crypt in 1953.
"It’s an issue of undermining a sacred and historic site," Hubbard said.
But Bill Mai‘oho, kahu of the Royal Mausoleum in Nuuanu for nearly 18 years, supports the approval of Kawananakoa’s request and said that his mother, who served as kahu for 28 years before him, anticipated it many years ago.
Mai‘oho’s family directly descends from the twin chiefs of Kamehameha who were tasked with burying the king’s iwi, and has for more than 190 years observed its kuleana to oversee royal iwi.
"We talked about this when my mom was here," Mai‘oho said. "We had discussed it from the ’60s through the ’70s and the ’80s and the ’90s, saying that Kekau is going to want to be buried here. … (She would say) just to let it be: if it’s going to happen, then be truthful, be factual, because our culture is so rich already that it doesn’t need to be enhanced or exaggerated upon, you know?"
Kekau is short for Kawananakoa’s given Hawaiian name, Kekaulike, the name of her great-grandmother, who was sister to Queen Kapiolani.
MAI‘OHO SAID it is not just his belief that Kawananakoa has the right to be buried at Mauna ‘Ala, it follows Hawaiian culture.
"In my interpretation of our culture, which for me is not an interpretation, she has that blood right to be here," Mai‘oho said. "In my capacity as a kahu to the iwi that are here at Mauna ‘Ala, I believe that I cannot go against blood. I cannot say to her in today’s world that she doesn’t belong here because now this is the modern era, and (that) was the past."
Kawananakoa’s grandparents/adopted parents, Abigail and David Kawananakoa, are buried at Mauna ‘Ala in the Kalakaua crypt along with their son, her uncle and adopted brother, David Kalakaua Kawananakoa. Her mother, aunts and cousins, however, are buried at Oahu Cemetery, Mai‘oho said.
Mai‘oho explained that when Kawananakoa’s aunt and adopted sister, Abigail Kapiolani Kawananakoa Field, died in 1961, her husband, Harry Field, chose to bury her at Oahu Cemetery.
"They wanted to bury her between the Kalakaua crypt and the chapel — there was going to be a burial plot there, but her husband … didn’t feel comfortable about being buried here at Mauna ‘Ala," Mai‘oho said. "So (he) took Kapiolani down to Oahu Cemetery and the family plot that was already there, and then when Kekaulike’s (Kawananakoa’s) momma passed away, Liliuokalani Kawananakoa Morris, she was buried at the Kawananakoa plot; they didn’t request to be buried here."
Mai‘oho said younger Kawananakoas could request burial at Mauna ‘Ala, "and it would be hard to refuse them."
He said many people claim lineage to Kamehameha I because he had 21 wives of varying degrees of genealogical aristocracy, but "those are the ones that are going to have a hard time because they claim to be Kamehameha but (are) not from the ruling Kamehameha family."
"Genetically Kamehameha is still with us but, you know, his ruling family, the sacred children and grandchildren of Kamehameha (are) no more," Mai‘oho said.
KAWANANAKOA’S proposed tomb would be constructed in an open area entirely at her expense and she plans to provide for its maintenance in perpetuity, according to her written request.
Kawananakoa initially requested that the land board waive an environmental impact study, but Aila said the board did not agree.
"An archaeological inventory survey will be done of the footprint of the (mausoleum grounds)," he said. "That’s a condition of the approval."
Aila said the April 26 board meeting started off contentiously but was less so by the end, and that it was "very emotionally draining" for everyone.
"This is a very sensitive and sacred site to many, many Hawaiians," he said. "And it’s the first time since the 1950s that anyone has requested permission to be interred there."
Hubbard said she was upset that the board gave significant weight to Mai‘oho’s recommendation for approval.
"He has no right to create policy," she said.
Aila said the board based its decision primarily on the Hawaiian decision-making process, rather than a Western way.
"(The kahu), their testimony, their answers, their thoughts are given a higher weight and standing because that’s what they’ve been trained for," he said. "They’ve been trained for answering the question: Does she have the genealogy to be (buried there)? … For them the answer was yes, she has the genealogy to be there."
But that might not be the last word.
Hubbard said she filed a request for a contested case hearing with the Department of Land and Natural Resources after the meeting. She contends the board did not have the authority to approve Kawananakoa’s request because it involves sacred Hawaiian land.
DLNR spokeswoman Deborah Ward said the state attorney general is still determining whether Hubbard has the standing to request the hearing, and she is unsure when a determination might be made. If Hubbard’s request is approved, a quasi-judicial hearing would be held to determine whether the board’s approval has legal standing, Aila explained.
Soulee Stroud, president of the Association of Hawaiian Civic Clubs, said the association supports Kawananakoa’s request.
"We just feel that she has done a lot in the community and we respect her for that and really, with that in mind, her request to be at Mauna ‘Ala is something that we felt is appropriate," Stroud said.
