This foundation is the residual beneficiary of her trust and will be her lasting legacy and her ultimate gift to her people.

Its purpose will be to support Native Hawaiians through the preservation and promotion of the Hawaiian language, culture and history. It will also provide specific support for individual needs including medical care.

Most prominent among Princess Abigail’s charitable efforts was the monumental restoration and preservation of ‘Iolani Palace to its former grandeur envisioned by her great-granduncle King Kalākaua during his travels abroad. Governor John A. Burns entrusted this restoration to Princess Lydia Liliu‘okalani Kawananakoa Morris (Abigail’s mother), who founded The Friends of ‘Iolani Palace to save from demolition, preserve and restore the home of her royal ancestors.

Upon Lydia’s passing in 1969, Princess Abigail carried on the legacy of her mother to successfully oversee its transformation. Our Nation’s only royal palace, it is recognized today as a cultural Hawaiian treasure and world-class museum of distinction. Princess Abigail served as President of the Friends for nearly 30 years. Her generosity over the years—from the gifts of family objects to the support of events at the Palace to direct financial support, including paying the Palace’s electricity bills for many years—made her by far the largest single benefactor of the Palace.

At the King’s Birthday Celebration Dinner in November 2022, she gave the Palace a set of four bowls from the famous 50 bowls given to him on his 50th Birthday, a campaign ribbon from her grandfather David Kawananakoa’s 1900 run for Delegate to Congress, and a set of cordage created in the Palace by Hale Nauā craftsmen.

In compliance with her wishes, the gifting of objects has continued after her passing. The Palace is building a new set of galleries in the basement to tell other stories that complement the story of the Palace itself. One of the new galleries will be the Kawananakoa Legacy Gallery and these objects will largely be displayed there.

Understanding the great importance of revitalizing the native Hawaiian language and recognizing it as the foundation for expressing the diversity and richness of Hawaiian culture, Princess Abigail was a long-time financial supporter and very vocal proponent of the ʻAha Pūnana Leo Hawaiian immersion program.

In December of 2007, ‘Aha Pūnana Leo honored Princess Abigail at its Neʻepapa I Ke Ō Mau benefit dinner as part of the twentieth-year anniversary celebration for the Hawaiian Immersion Program in the Hawaiʻi State Department of Education. She received the Kamakia Award for her patronage and continued support of the program.

Princess Abigail’s strong support for the annual Merrie Monarch Festival and its promotion of Native Hawaiian culture, language, and hula was well known and acknowledged. During his eulogy at Princess Abigail’s funeral, Kahu Kamaki Kanahele spoke of her love for hula and her insistence that it always be perpetuated. He told of a meeting many years ago with her very close friends ʻIolani Luahine, George Naʻope, Dottie Thompson, his mother Agnes Cope and himself, where Princess Abigail asked about what she had heard they were planning for Hilo. They described for her what we today know as the Merrie Monarch Hula Festival, and Kekau immediately promised and provided financing for it. “If not for Kekau,” he said, “none of this would exist. And for that we will always be grateful.”

Princess Abigail regularly attended the Festival as a living representative of the Kalākaua Dynasty and its founder and namesake, her great-granduncle King David Kalākaua. The welcome recognition of her presence in the festival program and by the festival audience honored the great vision and legacy of Kalākaua. Whenever the Princess was escorted to and from her seat of honor, the audience would stand in silence. This gesture of reverence and respect honored the Princess, and by extension, very much the King himself.

Over the years, Princess Abigail nurtured a personal relationship with the Royals throughout Polynesia. In 1984, representing the Royal Families of Hawai‘i and Tahiti, Princess Abigail attended the 21st Annual Merrie Monarch Festival with an entourage that included Princess Genevieve “Tita” Pomare, the granddaughter of Pomare V, the last reigning monarch of Tahiti.

As the Festival grew, Princess Abigail’s support focused more and more on the hula hālau and their kumu. There were regular cash gifts to support the hālau that performed at the Festival, as well as more personal and specific support of various kinds for individual kumu.

Marking the 50th Anniversary of the Merrie Monarch Festival, Princess Abigail was pleased to present Executive Director Luana Kāwelu a personal makana in memory of her dear friends Na‘ope and Thompson. At the 2023 Merrie Monarch, The Princess Abigail and Veronica Gail Kawananakoa Charitable Fund of the Hawai‘i Community Foundation donated $50,000 to the Merrie Monarch Festival in honor of the late princess.

Mauna ʻAla (also known as the Royal Mausoleum) is located up in the beautiful green Nuʻuanu Valley and is a wahi kapu—a sacred place—where Hawaiʻi’s Sovereign, aliʻi families and trusted and worthy supporters lie at rest.

Princess Abigail’s support is a personal kuleana to Mauna ʻAla where many of her family are buried including her beloved grandmother, Abigail Wahiikʻahuʻula Campbell Kawananakoa, who adopted her and raised her as her own child.

This kuleana has taken many forms. She funded the first long range plan for Mauna ʻAla. She was a proud member of Malama Mauna ʻAla, a group made up of the aliʻi trusts, which provides direct support for the grounds and buildings, and in particular for the tombs and monuments of their respective benefactors.

In 2022, she sponsored a major landscaping improvement project which replaced the five missing hala trees, including the two that guard the gate on the mauka side; the six missing royal palms (their absence when there is to be one for each aliʻi burial there was hurtful); the trimming of all the canopy trees on the grounds; and the repainting of the flower beds along the inside and outside of the fence along Nuʻuanu Avenue with Ohia Lehua, a native Hawaiian hibiscus and other native plants.

HONORING HER ANCESTORS -- THE GROUNDS OF MAUNA ʻALA

As work on her tomb at Mauna ʻAla was progressing, Princess Abigail wanted to do what she could to acknowledge her ancestors into whose presence she would someday be coming. One of those ways was to assist with landscaping issues on the grounds. The State has been taking care of the grounds on a day-to-day basis and they look well-maintained, however, there were items missing.

In talking with Kahu (Guardian) William Kaiheʻekai Maioho (whose family traces back to Hoʻolulu, one of two high chiefs who were entrusted with secreting away the bones of Kamehameha I), he spoke of the importance of the trees of Mauna ʻAla.

The first trees he talked about were the hala trees; five of which had died and not been replaced. He noted that hala trees were associated with death and passing, and with perpetuity, and that these trees were critical to the well-being of the grounds.

The most critical of the missing hala trees were the two at the entrance to the grounds. The trees that were on the immediate inside and outside of the makai side of the gate were missing and that imbalance was glaring in entering the grounds. They were also the kane (male) trees needed to balance the wahine (female trees) on the mauka side of the gate. Two other missing trees were at the two ends, upper and lower, on the entrace wall to the grounds. The final missing hala was next to the Kamehameha Crypt, where the builders of Mauna ʻAla, Kamehameha IV and Queen Emma, rest.

Kahu and members of Malama Mauna ʻAla (made up of the Aliʻi Trusts whose founders and family are buried there) were able to personally select the specific replacement hala trees from among dozens at Makakilo Nursery. As noted, importantly, these included the two male trees to join in guarding the entrance.

The other most critically absent trees were the royal palms; six of which were missing. Kahu explained that there needed to be one royal palm for each burial at Mauna ‘Ala, which meant that six burials were without proper acknowledgement. That absence was a very sensitive matter for Kahu. At one point he said that if you looked at Mauna ‘Ala from St. Francis Hospital, the missing palms were very obvious and made the trees and the grounds look very much out of balance.

While Kahu did not express a need to pick the individual royal palms, he did ask that they be younger palms. He felt that many of the palms on the grounds were getting older and that there needed to be a transition of the palms underway.

Kahu also noted where each royal palm needed to be placed.

In addition, he stated that one more palm would need to be planted once Princess Abigail was laid to rest there. And he marked where that palm was to go.

In the discussion with Kahu about the grounds, he noted the sad state of the planter beds that lined the inside of the fence along the entry to the grounds. There were significant areas where all the plants had died and other areas where the remaining plants were not healthy. There were also some areas where the plants were very inappropriate invasive species.

Kahu wanted a set of native plants, with sufficient watering, and with red cinder as part of the way the plants were displayed. This was accomplished as part of the landscaping project. Included in the new plantings were ‘ohia lehua trees, ferns, and a native hibiscus, which is the one species of hibiscus that has a scent.

Finally, it was also clear that the many canopy trees on the property needed to be trimmed. The most critical was the Kamani tree that stands next to the entry gate to the grounds and whose main branch extends over the entrance area. Kahu shared that this tree was planted by Queen Emma herself. When it was planted, there was no fence or gate along Nuʻuanu Avenue and her intent in planting the tree was for the branch to grow in a makai direction over the entrance and literally act as the first gate for the grounds. (Today that “Kamani gate” also limits the kinds of vehicles that can enter the grounds and, in particluar, means that large tour buses cannot enter and drive through the grounds.) That branch had grown quite large and posed a risk of splitting from the main tree.

Kahu also noted that there were two other Kamani trees planted by the Queen, one along the front fence but more makai on the property and one in the back of the grounds overseeing the John Young Tomb. John Young was an early Bristish advisor to Kamehameha I and was Queen Emma’s grandfather. Kahu shared that the three kamani trees were laid out by Queen Emma to represent the Polynesian Triangle, a view of the Pacific Islands which was, and is, very important to the Hawaiian view of the Pacific Ocean.

The other tree, which was the most discussed, was the so-called “sausage tree.” Sitting across from the entrance to the Kalakaua Crypt, its fruits are very large and heavy pods that look like sausages. The trees branches were filled with pods; in some cases pulling the branches nearly to the ground. (There were so many heavy pods that the State created signage to be placed around and under the tree warning visitors to be aware of potential injury from falling pods.) No one could figure out any value to those pods, as they cannot be used for cooking or medicine, and they cannot be carved in ways to make them useful.

When Kahu was asked about the tree, he said that Queen Liliʻuokalani planted it herself and that we should wait to see it flower and our question would be answered. Later when the trees were trimmed and the pods removed, the tree literally sprang up and within two days was filled with beautiful red and yellow flowers: Aliʻi colors in the front shaped like a horn as well as on the back. The Queen knew exactly what she was doing as the flowers greeted and honored the Kalakaua Crypt.

Other trees included kou, kukui, mango, mahogany and plumeria. All were trimmed as well.

The final part of the grounds project was the refurbishing of the Kalākaua Obelisk.

Princess Abigail supported in various ways the activities of many trusts and historic sites for the benefit of Native Hawaiians through the Queen's Hospital, the Lunalilo Home for elderly Hawaiians, the Queen Liliʻuokalani Children's Centers, the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum, Hanaiakamalama, the Queen Emma Summer Palace in Nuʻuanu, Huliheʻe Palace in Kona, and the ʻIolani Palace in Honolulu.

Princess Abigail created three foundations that have served various needs that she believed were important in serving the Hawaiian people:

The Abigail K. Kawananakoa Foundation
This foundation was the source of many scholarships to Hawaiian children, support for the medical treatment of children (including support for their families), and support for educational activities. Over the years, this foundation has given away hundreds of thousands of dollars to the Hawaiian people.

Na Lei Aliʻi Foundation
This foundation focused its activities on the preservation of Hawaiian artifacts and cultural practices.

The Abigail K. K. Kawananakoa Foundation
This foundation is the residual beneficiary of Princess Abigail’s trust and will be her lasting legacy and her ultimate gift to her people. Its purpose will be to support Native Hawaiians through the preservation and promotion of the Hawaiian language, culture and history. It will also provide specific support for individual needs including medical care.

In August of 2014, Princess Abigail donated $116,640 to the Episcopal Diocese of Hawaiʻi to help facilitate the purchase of the City’s roadway embracing the Queen Emma Square at 1275 Queen Emma Street.

A few blocks mauka of Queen Emma Square on the present site of The Pacific Club stood Kahomenani, the Honolulu residence of James & Abigail Campbell and the birthplace of Princess Abigail’s beloved grandmother, Princess Abigail Wahiikaahuula Campbell Kawananakoa. When the opportunity came up to purchase the land at the entrance to St. Andrew’s Priory, Princess Abigail provided $160,000 to purchase the land.

The Episcopal Diocese, which acquired it with her donation, wanted to name it after her, but she asked that it instead be named for her great-grandparents. And so it was.

In support of traditional Native Hawaiian healing practices and to promote the health and well-being of the growing Hawaiian communities along the Waianae Coast, Princess Abigail pledged one million dollars towards the health initiative of this center.

For her kindness and generosity, The Waianae Coast Comprehensive Health Center constructed a pavilion lookout and walking trail atop the highest vantage point of its property at Puʻu Maʻiliʻili overlooking the Health Center complex and the entire Maʻili coastline. It was named The Princess Trail & Lookout—“Ke Kahua o Princess Abigail Kinoiki Kekaulike Kawananakoa.”

Established in 1980, the Kānewai Cultural Resource Center at the University of Hawaiʻi is the most experienced teaching cultural garden in Oceania and guardian of most varieties of Native Hawaiian taro. Kānewai operates as an educational center with the full support and standing of the University of Hawaiʻi and Hawaiʻinuiākea School of Hawaiian Knowledge, the largest and only indigenous college in a Research University.

In the early days of the Centerʻs founding, a newspaper article appeared about the loʻi kalo, the taro patch, as one of the last agricultural terraces in Mānoa and the urgent need it faced in order to remain there and a part of the Center. Princess Abigail responded immediately with a gift of $100,000 to address the needs of the loʻi kalo and to ensure its long-term health and maintenance, reflecting the significance of kalo to the Hawaiian people.

A water sports enthusiast for most of her life and a record-breaking swimmer during her youth at the Punahou Junior Academy, Princess Abigail read with great interest a 2013 story in June Watanabe’s Kokua Line, “Water heaters at city pools won’t be fixed in near future.”

The article highlighted the City’s failed promise to fix the broken hot water heater at the Mānoa pool shower and the long waiting process that the Department of Parks and Recreation have endured for the City to release funds to purchase new heaters.

Prompted by the community need and the inconvenience to the kupuna and others who use the pool, Princess Kawananakoa immediately made a contribution of $23,586 to expedite repairs.

As a legacy to renowned hula master, ʻIolani Luahine, Princess Abigail commissioned “Kekaha O ʻIolani” to fulfill Aunty ʻIo’s dream to establish a cultural learning center to teach hula on her family lands at Napoʻopoʻo, South Kona, Hawaiʻi. The importance of hula and all things Hawaiian are recognized and respected throughout the world. In loving remembrance of Aunty ʻIolani Luahine, “Kekaha O ʻIolani remains a special place where Hula inspiration abounds.

In honor of the Royal Legacy of King Kamehameha IV and Queen Emma towards providing for the general health and welfare of Native Hawaiians, Princess Abigail supported the founding principles of The Queen’s Hospital and on many occasions generously paid the medical expenses of Hawaiians expressing a need.

Throughout her life, Princess Abigail received and collected items that reflected the history of Hawaiʻi generally and of the Royal Families specifically. As she once reflected; because of her royal lineage, and because of the training she recevied as the result of her adoption by her grandmother who trained her into her role as a royal descendant, [and though she would not have said it herself, her personal mana]; she was given knowledge and objects that only she was to possess unless and until she could pass it to another with royal blood, the requisite training and the mana. She never found that person.

An alternative, and probably the one she preferred, was to return them to her family. And by that she meant to her familyʻs home -- and the recipient of many of her most important lifetime gifts – ‘Iolani Palace.

One of the Princess’ most strongly held beliefs was that items reflecting the history of the Kingdom of Hawai’i need to be displayed so they can be seen and appreciated by the people of Hawaiʻi and especially by those who are of Hawaiian descent. These objects bring the history and culture of Hawaiʻi to life in a way that words cannot by themselves convey.

And she had a special love for ‘Iolani Palace, the home built and occupied by her royal ancestors. The Palace was saved from demolition by her mother Lydia Liliʻuolakalani Morris, who then presided over its initial restoration as President of the Friends of ‘Iolani Palace. When her mother passed, the Princess took over the Friends and served as its President from 1971 until 1998. During her tenure, the majority of the restoration work was undertaken and completed and the Palace was opened for tours.

In 1998, the Princess momentarily posed on a Palace throne for a Life Magazine feature about people who might occupy thrones. The uproar that ensued caused her to be removed as President and from the Board of the Friends. Though deeply hurt by this action, she continued to be the Palace’s primary benefactor.

Princess Abigail consistently gave money to the Palace and often covered the Palace’s yearly deficits. After the tsunami in Japan caused a surge in fuel oil prices, which led to skyrocketing electricity costs in Hawai‘i, she took it upon herself to pay the Palace's monthly electric bills for several months. And she consistently gave objects that she possessed or acquired to the Palace. These gifts included the Kalākaua Diamond.

As the Princess neared the end of her life, she began expediting the transfer of valuable objects to ‘Iolani Palace, with the intention that the rest would be delivered after her passing.

A description of these gifts, and where they are displayed in the Palace, follows:

Gift Set #1 – November 2022 Palace Dinner

Hawaiian Kalākaua monarchy period turned dark kou wood presentation covered pedestal bowls. The first bowl features a slightly tapered cylindrical bowl with rounded base continuing to a round stepped pedestal foot with a fitted turned dome cover with round indented top knob branded on the interior cover and the base of the flat foot. The second bowl, marked by three indented rings, rests on a stepped pedestal foot and the turned dome cover with rounded steps is surmounted by a crown form finial. The

King David Kalākaua mark is branded on the interior cover and the base of the flat foot. The third bowl is marked by 13 shallow steps on the sides and features a round turned cover stepped on the rim, surmounted by the urn form finial. The cover is inscribed KALĀKAUA in capital letters and the King David Kalākaua mark is branded on the interior cover and the base of the flat foot.

These covered bowls are believed to have been gifted to King David Kalākaua on the occasion of his 50 th Birthday Silver Jubilee celebration on November 16, 1886.

Item #4: Coconut Shell Cup (1886)

This sanded and finished coconut shell cup rests on a kou wood flaring stepped pedestal foot. The fitted cover marked by incised rings is surmounted by a finial, with POXXIV inscribed on the base of flat foot.

This cup was likely the property of Liliuʻokalani Morris and inherited by her daughter, Princess Abigail Kawānanakoa. 

Item #5:  Political Armband (1900)

This rare printed paper political armband was worn by the supporters of Prince David Kawānanakoa during the 1900 election of the Hawaii Delegate to Congress. Prince Kawānanakoa, who lost the election, ran against Sam Parker and Robert Wilcox, who won the election. The armband is framed together with a small copy of Prince David’s lifetime portrait and a brief descriptive text of the armband. The political paper armband is unique with no other known surviving example. 

Item #6:  Mixed Media Portrait

Titled Portrait of Mrs. Liliuʻokalani Kawānanakoa Morris, this bust portrait shows a smiling woman wearing a white dress with a diamond and sapphire pin, posed in front of ‘Iolani Palace. It is signed Glover on the lower right.

Item #7: Calabash

A Hawaiian 19th century kou wood ‘umeke la’au pakaka. This calabash of low rounded form features a deep honey color wood with darker markings and the King David Kālakaua mark branded on the base.

Owned by King David Kalākaua, as indicted by the Kalākaua mark on the bottom of the calabash, and inherited by descent first to his great grandniece Liliuʻokalani Morris and then her daughter, Abigail Kawānanakoa.

Item #8: Cordage

This very large bundle of Hawaiian 19th century olona cordage of indeterminate length is believed to have been used in the rituals of the Hale Naua Society, a secret royal society established by King David Kalākaua on September 24, 1886. Membership was strictly controlled and limited to men who claimed relationship to the chiefs. Genealogists who sat with the King were required to recognize a suitable relationship between the King and the ancestry of the candidate. 

Likely owned by King David Kalākaua and inherited by descent first to his great grandniece Liliuʻokalani Morris and then her daughter, Abigail Kawānanakoa.

Item #9:  Wood Akua Kaʻai Image

Very early 19th century or earlier, this long stick image is composed of two god figures, with the upper standing god figure featuring very long slightly flexed legs and the lower god figure featuring a triangular head. The stick is marked with a series of tapered conical sections.

Princess Kahanu Kalanianaʻole gifted the piece to Thomas Vredenburg prior to 1932. The upper half was stolen in the 1980s. Both halves were subsequently reunited in 2008 when they were acquired by Princess Abigail Kawānanakoa.