The Royal House of Kawananakoa

Princess Abigail was the eldest granddaughter of HRH Prince David Laʻamea Kaluaonalani Kahalepoʻuli Piʻikoi, surnamed Kawananakoa, the constitutional heir to the Hawaiian throne and the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi under the Kalakaua Dynasty and beloved patriarch of the Royal House of Kawananakoa. 

She was born on April 23, 1926 to HRH Princess Lydia Liliʻuokalani Kawananakoa and William Jeremiah Ellerbrock. 

Princess Abigail's mother, in keeping with the traditional Hawaiian custom of “malu hanai" allowed the young princess to be adopted at an early age by her grandmother, HRH Princess Abigail Wahiʻikaʻahuʻulu Campbell Kawananakoa to be raised as a punahele (favored) daughter in the regal atmosphere of Hawaiian nobility. 

Elevated to the generation of her mother to perpetuate the royal line, Princess Abigail's unique upbringing enriched her cultural awareness and, true to her chiefly birthright, gave her an aliʻi perspective, a responsibility she regarded personally as a matter of noblesse oblige. 

As the senior representative of the Royal House of Kawananakoa and as a living heir to the Kalakaua Dynasty, the last Regency of the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi, Princess Abigail was the embodiment and caretaker of the Royal Family of Hawaiʻi. 

The Kalakaua Dynasty

The Royal House of Kawananakoa, personified in Princess Abigail, is the closest living blood relation to His Majesty King David Laʻamea Kamanakapuʻu Mahinulani Naloiaehuokalani Lumialani Kalakaua and his consort, Her Majesty, Queen Julia Napelakapuokakaʻe Kapiʻolani.

High Chiefess Pelakila Kamokuiki

King Kalakaua's paternal grandmother, the High Chiefess Pelakila Kamokuiki, daughter of Kanepawale and Uaua-a-ʻI, is also the maternal grandmother of High Chief David Kahalepoʻuli Piʻikoi. High Chiefess Pelakila Kamokuiki was married twice. By her first marriage to High Chief Alapaʻimaloiki, also known as Alapaʻikupalumano, she had a daughter who was given the name Kekahili – the Royal Standard.

By the High Chief Jonah Piʻikoi, Kekahili had one son, David Kahalepoʻuli Piʻikoi whose given name “Kahalepoʻuli” commemorates the “Darkened House” of the High Chiefess Kinaʻu whose residence was shuttered from sunlight to ease her discomfort arising from an affliction of her eyes.

Queen Liliuokalani’s given names Liliʻu Loloku Walania Wewehi Kaukaualiʻi are also commemorative of this same event in the life of Kuhina Nui Kinaʻu.

High Chiefess Kekahili was also a cousin in the first degree to Queen Kaʻahumanu, consort of King Kamehameha-I and Kuhina-Nui (premier) of the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi. Kekahili's father, Alapaʻimaloiki was a younger brother of Keʻeaumoku Papaʻiaheahe, the father of Kaʻahumanu and warrior-general of Kamehameha-I. They were the high-ranking sons of High Chief Keawepoepoe and Kumaʻaiku.

High Chiefess Pelakila Kamokuiki, by her second marriage to High Chief Kamanawa-II, gave birth to a son whom she named Kapaʻakea.

High Chief Caesar Kapaʻakea married High Chiefess Analea Keohokalole, and they became the parents of several children including Their Majesties, King Kalakaua and Queen Liliʻuokalani, all of whom are cousins in the first degree to High Chief David Kahalepoʻuli Piʻikoi, father of HRH Prince David Laʻamea Kaluaonalani Piʻikoi, surnamed Kawananakoa:

• James Kaliokalani (hanai of ʻAikanaka)

  (May 29, 1835 – April 2, 1852)

• King Kalakaua (hanai of Haʻaheo Kaniʻu)

  (November 16, 1836 - January 20, 1891)

• Queen Liliʻuokalani (hanai of Paki & Konia)

  (September 2, 1838 – November 11, 1917)

• Anna Kaʻiulani
  (b: 1842)

• Kaʻiminaʻauao (hanai of Kauikeaouli, Kamehameha-III)

  (November 7, 1845 - November 10, 1848)

• Miriam Kapili Likelike

  (January 13, 1851 – February 2, 1887)

• William Pitt Leleiohoku-II (hanai of Keʻelikolani)

  (January 10, 1855 – April 9, 1877)

HRH Princess Abigail Kinoiki Kekaulike Kawananakoa is a first cousin, four generations removed, to His Majesty King David Laʻamea Kamanakapuʻu Mahinulani Naloiaehuokalani Lumialani Kalakaua; Her Majesty, Queen Lydia Liliʻu Loloku Walania Wewehi Kamakaʻeha Liliʻuokalani; HRH Princess Miriam Kapili Likelike; and HRH Prince William Pitt Leleiohoku who are collectively known as Na Lani ʻEha.

The Piʻikoi Lineage

High Chief Jonah Piʻikoi is a kaukaualiʻi (lesser chief) and, as a scion of Kauaʻi nobility, most noted for his autobiography detailing his political rise from personal attendant and humble pipe-lighter formerly in service to King Kaʻumualiʻi to a well-respected statesman in both the House of Nobles and the King's Privy Council under Kauikeaoʻuli, King Kamehameha III.

By his marriage with High Chiefess Kekahili, Jonah Piʻikoi had one son, David Kahalepoʻuli Piʻikoi whose given name “Kahalepoʻuli” commemorates the “Darkened House” of the High Chiefess Kinaʻu whose residence was shuttered from sunlight to ease her discomfort arising from an affliction of her eyes.

Queen Liliuokalani’s given names Liliu Loloku Walania Wewehi Kamakaʻeha are also commemorative of this same event in the life of Kuhina Nui Kinaʻu.

High Chief David Kahalepoʻuli Piʻikoi became the consort of his adopted sister, HRH Princess Mary Kinoiki Kekaulike, daughter of High Chief Kuhio Kalanianaʻole of Hilo and High Chiefess Kinoiki-I, the niʻaupiʻo (very high ranking) daughter of King Kaumuali of Kauaʻi.

HRH Princess Mary Kinoiki Kekaulike was the youngest sister of Queen Kapiʻolani who became the hanai (adopted) daughter of High Chief Jonah Pi ʻikoi.

High Chief David Kahalepoʻuli Piʻikoi and HRH Princess Mary Kinoiki Kekaulike are the parents of three sons:

• HRH Prince David Laʻamea Kaluaonalani Piʻikoi, surnamed Kawananakoa

• HRH Prince Edward Kealiiahonui

• HRH Prince Jonah Kuhio Kalanianaʻole

The Kaumualiʻi Lineage

HRH Princess Abigail Kinoiki Kekaulike Kawananakoa is the namesake of her great grandmother, HRH Princess Mary Kinoiki Kekaulike, youngest sister of Her Majesty Queen Kapiʻolani and HRH Princess Virginia Kapoʻoloku Poʻomaikelani, the royal daughters of High Chief Kuhio Kalanianaʻole of Hilo and High Chiefess Kinoiki-I, the niʻaupiʻo daughter of King Kaumualiʻi and his sister/wife, High Chiefess Kapuaʻamohu, the royal children of Queen Kamakahelei, hereditary ruler of Kamawaelualani (Kauaʻi).

Princess Abigail was the great-great-great-granddaughter of King Kaumualiʻi, the last ruling sovereign of an independent Kingdom of Kauaʻi.

HRH Princess Mary Kinoiki Kekaulike was the hanai (adopted) daughter of High Chief Jonah Piʻikoi, the humble pipe-lighter of King Kaumualiʻi.

With her consort, High Chief David Kahalepoʻuli Piʻikoi, they became the parents of three sons:

• HRH Prince David Laʻamea Kaluaonalani Kahalepoʻuli Piʻikoi, surnamed Kawananakoa

• HRH Prince Edward Kealiiahonui

• HRH Prince Jonah Kuhio Kalanianaʻole

The Keawemauhili Lineage

High Chiefess Kinoiki-I was married to High Chief Kuhio Kalanianaʻole, the son of High Chief ʻElelule and grandson of Keawemauhili, a Kapu Chief of the highest rank, made sacred in the time of Kalaniopuʻu, whose royal niaupʻo, piʻo and naha lineage was doubled and multiplied and for whom was reserved the aliʻi right to traverse upon the kuauna (sacred patches of the kapu platform Ka Paepae ʻO Liloa) and the streaked and darkened nioi wood of Kahoukapu at Pakaʻalana.

Princess Abigail was, in direct lineal descent, the great-great-great-granddaughter of the sacred High Chief Keawemauhili.

The Campbell Lineage

Princess Abigail was the eldest great-granddaughter of James Argyll Campbell, pioneer sugar entrepreneur, landowner and millionaire, and his second wife, Abigail Kuaihelani Maʻipinepine, an aliʻi descendant of the Royal Houses of Piʻilani who was king of Maui; and of Liloa of Waipiʻo who was king of Hawaiʻi Island.

At the age of 13, the young Scotsman James Campbell left his home in Londonderry, Ireland and stowed away aboard a lumber schooner bound for the Canadian province of New Brunswick. James Campbell's seafaring adventures would take him to New York, New Bedford, the South Pacific, and the shores of Tahiti and Hawaiʻi.

While in the South Pacific, James Campbell survived a shipwreck, an encounter with cannibals, and a native rebellion against the French in Tahiti.

James Campbell arrived at Lahaina, Maui in 1850 and with genuine talent, great fortitude and perseverance, turned hard-won opportunities into a great sugar plantation, the foundation of the pre-eminent $3.8 billion holding company known today as The James Campbell Company, LLC.

Abigail Kuaihelani Maʻipinepine Campbell was a royalist and a trusted confidante of Her Majesty Queen Liliʻuokalani, the last ruling monarch of Hawaiʻi. In 1897, Abigail Kuaihelani Campbell, along with Emma Nawahi, as members of the Women's Hawaiian Patriotic League, traveled throughout the Hawaiian Islands collecting 21,269 signatures, representing 95% of the Native Hawaiian adult population, for the “Kuʻe Petitions,” a native protest against the annexation of Hawaiʻi by the United States.