Elizabeth Kahanu Kalaniana'ole

Infobox Hawaiian Royalty
name =Elizabeth Kahanu Kalanianaokinaole
title =Princess of Hawaiokinai

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caption =Portrait of Prince and Princess Kalanianaole, posed in a room in Chicago, Illinois.
imgw =300
reign =
predecessor =
successor =
spouse =Jonah Kūhiō Kalanianaokinaole
issue =
full name =Elizabeth Kahanu Kaleiwohi-Kaokinaauwai Kalanianaokinaole
titles ="HRH" The Princess
royal house =House of Kalakaua
Royal House of Maui
royal anthem =
father =High Chief Kaleiwohi Kaokinaauwai of Maui
mother =High Chiefess Muolo Keawe-Heulu Laokinaanui
date of birth =birth date|1879|3|8|df=y
place of birth =Makawao, Maui
date of death =death date and age|1932|2|20|1879|3|8|df=yes
place of death =Honolulu, Ookinaahu
place of burial =Mauna Ala Royal Mausoleum|

Elizabeth Kahanu Kaleiwohi-Kaokinaauwai Kalaniana'ole Woods she was the wife of Prince Jonah Kuhio Kalanianaole, Hawaii's second Delegate-to-Congress. Ka’auwai was her maiden name and Kalanianaole was the surname of her husband. She, like her sister-in-law Abigail Campbell Kawananakoa, was a Hawaiian princess by marriage to a Hawaiian Prince. Their husbands were granted the title in 1883 and style Highness and it would make sense if their wives shared their title even though their marriage was after the Overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom.

Early life

She was born in Makawao, Maui, March 8, 1879, and during her childhood was a protegee of her cousin, Queen K;i| i<> lani. Princess Kalanianaole's father was a chief of the island of Maui. He was Kaleiwohi Kaauwai [ [http://homepage.mac.com/gencea/Nui/ps10/ps10_009.htm Kaleiwohi KAAUWAI ] ] , High Chief of Maui, and his wife (Elizabeth's mother) was, Muolo Keawe-heulu La'anui. [ [http://homepage.mac.com/gencea/Nui/ps10/ps10_010.htm Muolo Keaweheulu LAANUI ] ] [ [http://www.4dw.net/royalark/Hawaii/hawaii4.htm HAWAII4 ] ] Her family descends from the Moi of Maui. High Chief Hoapili Kaauwai and his wife High Chiefess Kiliwehi, who had accompany Queen Emma on her visit to Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom in the 1860s, were her aunt and uncle. [Under Hawaiian Skies: A Narrative of the Romance, Adventure and History of the Hawaiian Islands by Albert Pierce Taylor - Page 156] She was educated at Sacret Hearts Academy.

Marriage to Kuhio

Elizabeth had met Kuhio in 1895 after his participation in the failed Wilcox Rebellion, had brought him into jail for almost a year. His only happiness came from the visits of Kahanu. She helped his morale, brought him Hawaiian food, and sang his favourite sons to break the terrible isolation he experienced in prison. He was released in 1896. She married Prince Kuhio in October 8th, 1896. [Official Congressional Directory By United States Congress. Page 139] Their wedding was held in the Saint Andrew's Cathedral in Honolulu, Oahu.

She and her husband decided that they would leave Hawaii for a while as the monarchy was over and hopes of restoration were dim. For two years she and Kuhio in Europe and South Africa (). They travel freely as wealthy "nobility" and were recognized as royals even though the Kingdom of Hawaii was no more. One incident occurred in Geneva, Switzerland, when a German count prejudicially referred loudly to Kuhio's dark skin color. Her husband used his boxing craft to knock the man out. As time passed her husband lost his feeling of bitterness over the past. He wanted to be home and into the middle of the new actions, occurring in the Territory of Hawaii. [Modern History of Hawaii By Ann Rayson. Page 57-59]

She and her husband arrived home in September 1901. And the couple settled into the social and sports life. She and Kuhio settled at Pualeilani, the Waikiki home they had inherited from Kuhio's aunt, Queen Kapi'olani and the same place Kapiolani had died in. [Modern History of Hawaii By Ann Rayson. Page 59]

Description

In "Jack London and Hawaii" by Charmian London, Princess Elizabeth is described as a gorgeous creature that eclipsed the handsome look of her husband Kuhio. Her bigness was a trifle overwhelming to one new to the physical aristocracy of the island people. One would hesitate to call her fat, she was just big, sumptuos, bearing her splendid proportions with the remarkable poise that had already been noticed in Hawaiian women, only more magnificently. Her bare shoulders were described as beautiful, the pose of her head majestic, with heavy fine dark hair that showed bronze lights in its wavy mass. She was superbly gowned in silk that had a touch of purple or lilac about it, just the tone for her full black, calm eyes and war, tawny skin. For these of chiefly blood are many shades fairer than the commoners. Jack London and Charmian London agreed that they could not expect ever to behold a more queenly woman. The descriptive powers of these were exasperatingly inept to picture the manner in which the Princess stood, touching with hers the hands of all who passed before her, with a brief, graceful droop of her fine head, and a fleeting, perfunctory, yet graciouse flash of little teeth under her small fine mouth. Glorious she was, the Princess Kalanianaole, every inch a princess in the very tropical essence of her. Always shall I rememeber her as resplendent exotic flower, swaying and bending its head with unaffected, innate grace. And the Princess Elizabeth Kalanianaole has set an example, a pattern, that will make us full critical of royal women of any blood. [Jack London and Hawaii By Charmian London. Page 49-54]

Death

In 1917, Kuhio's aunt, Queen Liliuokalani died at her home in Washington Place. If the Hawaiian kingdom had not been overthrown her husband would have succeed as king and she would have been queen consort of Hawaii. In January 7, 1922, her husband died and was intured in the Royal Mausoleum of Hawaii. She known for converting his tomb into a chapel. She was appointed to fill her husband's place as a member of the Hawaiian Home Commission. She remarried to James Frank Woods in 1923. She died at Queen's Hospital in February 20, 1932. She had been President of the Native Sons & Daughters of Hawaii, Honourable President of the Kaahumanu Society, Regent of Hui Kalama, and Moi of the Daughters & Sons of Hawaiian Warriors, etc. Her death was lost to the Hawaiian community.

Reference

External links

* [http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~royalty/hawaii/i108.html#I108 Rootsweb]