There’s nothing quite like royal lineage to captivate people’s imaginations and give public clout to any variety of causes. So it was that the life of Abigail Kawananakoa impacted many Native Hawaiian causes and leaves a storied legacy, one whose epilogue is still to be written.
“Her Royal Highness, Princess Abigail Kinoiki Kekaulike Kawananakoa,” as she was to many Native Hawaiians, died Sunday at age 96, after decades of activism and support for Hawaiian institutions such as ‘Iolani Palace. Those years were interwoven with controversies and a personal saga of near-bankruptcy that led, in later life, to a legal fight over control of her estimated $215 million fortune.
Kawananakoa’s grandparents were Prince David Kawananakoa, an heir to the Kingdom of Hawaii throne before the monarchy’s overthrow, and Abigail Campbell, daughter of James Campbell, one of Hawaii’s richest industrialists and largest landowners of his time. It was the Campbell fortune that would allow Abigail Kawananakoa to pursue her passions as a champion equestrian and quarter horse breeder.
It also enabled a life of philanthropy, such as financial support for the palace, and a $20 million donation to Colorado State University to help build a veterinary teaching hospital and a $3 million endowment for equine orthopedics.
Throughout her long life, Kawananakoa was a symbol of Hawaii’s regal past, a reminder of this state’s complex history of indigenous subjugation that continues to resonate with and rally Native Hawaiians today.
Her outspoken activism in later years aligned with causes that aimed to protect the aina, including funding efforts and publicly opposing Oahu’s rail project and the Thirty Meter Telescope at Mauna Kea; and for cultural preservation, such as when she sued to demand that 83 Hawaiian artifacts in the “Forbes Cave” at Kawaihae be returned to Bishop Museum.
It was after a 2017 stroke that Kawananakoa’s fitness to control her considerable fortune landed in the courts, pitting her longtime lawyer James Wright against her then-partner of 20 years, Veronica Gail Worth. Kawananakoa fired Wright and married Worth, who took her last name — but the court case went on amid allegations of partner abuse and mental competency. The legal wrangling continues.
Today, Kawananakoa’s passing is palpably felt by many in and outside the Native Hawaiian community. With her regal bearing, public prominence and financial resources, the strong-willed Abigail Kawananakoa was a force to be reckoned with.
Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly said that Kawananakoa sued to demand that the 83 artifacts at Bishop Museum be returned for reburial at "Forbes Cave."
