“The Alii Kahanu displayed her true aristocracy by being always unpretentious, even humble. She was a living example of the motto of Hawaiian Kings … The king is a king because of the chiefs, and chiefs are chiefs because of the people.” (Taylor, SB, Feb 20, 1932)
“Always her thoughts were of the people. She was active in anything that could do good for them … She was constantly engaged in private charities, although we never heard of them except indirectly. All of her pension money was used for charity and once she referred to it as a monument to the prince.” (Taylor, SB, Feb 20, 1932) (In March, 1923, the Hawaiian Legislature granted a pension of $500 a month to the Princess. (NY Times).)
“The Alii Kahanu – that was her name and title by the old Hawaiian royalty nomenclature – always referred to her husband Prince Kuhio as ‘my alii’ to intimates, or as ‘the prince’ to strangers.” (Taylor, SB, Feb 20, 1932)
“The king and queen [Kalakaua and Kapiolani] were caring for four children. There were three boys, Kuhio, Kawananakoa and Edward (who died) and then the little girl, Elizabeth. They were all cousins …. She was a timid little thing, but they all played together around the garden of Honuakaha.” (Curtis Iaukea, SB, Feb 20, 1932)
Elizabeth Kahanu Kaʻauwai was born on May 8, 1878 in Maui and was cousin to Queen Kapi’olani. Her parents were George Kaleiwohi Kaauwai and Ulalia Muolo Keaweaheulu Laanui Kaauwai. She hailed from a prominent Maui aliʻi family.
On January 5, 1895, protests took the form of an armed attempt to derail the annexation but the armed revolt was no match for the forces of the Republic troops and police. Amongst the Hawaiian Kingdom loyalists was Prince Jonah Kūhiō Kalaniana‘ole who was twenty four years old at the time.
Kūhiō, other leaders of the revolt and those involved in the rebellion were captured and imprisoned – along with Queen Lili‘uokalani who was additionally charged for failing to put down the revolt. Kūhiō was sentenced to a year in prison while others were charged with treason and sentenced with execution.
Death sentences were commuted to imprisonment. Kūhiō served his full term. He was visited daily by his fiancée, Elizabeth Kahanu Ka‘auwai. They were married on October 9, 1896 at the Anglican Cathedral and she became Princess of Hawai‘i. (Iolani Palace and Native Kauai LLC)
Shortly after their wedding, Kūhiō and Kahanu left Hawai`i to travel throughout Europe and Africa. Kūhiō later returned from his self-imposed exile to dedicate the rest of his life to politics. By September 1, 1902, Kūhiō decided to align himself with the powerful Republican Party.
Kūhiō joined the convention as a nominee for Delegate to Congress, announcing, “I am a Republican from the top of my head to the bottom of my feet.” Republicans nominated him by acclamation and Kuhio and Kahanu went to Washington.
During his tenure as delegate, Kūhiō restored the Royal Order of Kamehameha I in 1903; introduced the first bill for Hawai‘i statehood (1919); introduced the Hawaiʻi National Park bill in 1916, covering land on Kilauea, Mauna Loa, and Haleakala; and worked to get funds for the construction of the Pearl Harbor naval base. His landmark achievement was working to introduce the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act (1920). (LOC)
Kahanu was an attendant of Queen Emma and the protégé of Queen Kapiʻolani. (OHA) She was known for her exceptional hosting skills in both Honolulu and Washington, DC, where her husband represented the Territory of Hawaiʻi in Congress from 1903 until his death.
Charmian London (Jack London’s wife) noted that Kahanu was “the gorgeous creature at [Kuhio’s] side … The bigness of her was a trifle overwhelming to one new to the physical aristocracy of island peoples.”
“You would hesitate to call her fat – she is just big, sumptuous, bearing her splendid proportions with the remarkable poise I had already noticed in Hawaiian women, only more magnificently.”
“Her bare shoulders were beautiful, the pose of her head majestic, piled 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, the perfect tone for her full, black, calm eyes and warm, tawny skin.”
“For Polynesians of chiefly blood are often many shades fairer than the commoners. Under our breath, Jack and I agreed that we could not expect ever to behold a more queenly woman.”
“My descriptive powers are exasperatingly inept to picture the manner in which this Princess stood, touching with hers the hands of all who passed, with a brief, graceful droop of her patrician head, and a fleeting, perfunctory, yet gracious flash of little teeth under her small fine mouth.”
“Glorious she was, the Princess Kalanianaole, a princess in the very tropical essence of her. Always shall I remember her as a resplendent exotic flower, swaying and bending its head with unaffected, innate grace.” (Charmian London)
“She presided with charm and distinction and sincerity at the Hawaiian meetings of [the Honolulu Citizens’ Organization for Good Government]. Urging adherence to American principles and institutions and orderly processes of the law.” (Adv, Feb 20, 1932)
An influential leader in the Hawaiʻi suffragist movement, Kahanu traveled around Hawaiʻi to teach local women about their rights to vote. After women were granted the right to vote, she created the Hawaiian Women’s Republican Auxiliary, whose mission was to educate women on political issues.
She was appointed President of the Kapiʻolani Maternity Home, after the passing of Queen Kapiʻolani, and later filled her husband’s place as a member of the Hawaiian Home Commission, upon his death.
She was an active leader in many community organizations such as: Native Sons and Daughters of Hawaiʻi, the Kaʻahumanu Society, Hui Kalama, the Daughters and Sons of Hawaiian Warriors, and ʻAhahui o nā Māmakakaua. (OHA)
Prince Kūhiō passed away on January 7, 1922 at his home in Waikīkī. He is buried at Mauna ‘Ala, the Royal Mausoleum in Nu‘uanu, and was given the last State funeral held in Hawai‘i for an Ali‘i. (DHHL)
After Kuhio’s death Kahanu married Frank Woods. (HSA) “Her second marriage to James Frank Woods was a happy one. Mr Woods and the prince had been like brothers and the first Mrs Woods, formerly Miss Eva Parker, was a cousin of the princess. They were all chiefly families and had always formed a little group of intimates.” (SB, Feb 20, 1932)
Elizabeth Kahanu Kalaniana‘ole Woods died at Queen’s Hospital on February 19, 1932, and is buried in the O’ahu Cemetery next to her second husband.
