Elizabeth Kekaaniau
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Princess Elizabeth Kekaʻaniau Laʻanui formally Elizabeth Kekaikuihala Kekaaniauokalani Kalaninuiohilaukapu Laʻanui (12 Sep 1834 - 20 Dec 1928) was a great grandniece of Kamehameha the great, being a great granddaughter of Prince Kalokuokamaile, the eldest brother of Kamehameha the Great. She was born in her family home at Waialua. She was given the name Elizabeth after her mother's adoptive mother Queen Elizabeth Kaahumanu and the Hawaiian name after her father's elder sister who died as a child. Her full birth name is Elizabeth Kekaikuihala Kekaaniauokalani Kalaninuiohilaukapu Laanui. She was 10 years old when Kamehameha III placed her in the Chiefs' Children's School, also known as the Royal School, a select school exclusive for the children of the highest chiefly rank in the kingdom, eligible to be rulers and was under the teachings of Mr. & Mrs. Amos Star Cooke. Under an official order of the king, she was proclaimed eligible to rule the Hawaiian Kingdom.
Her father was Prince Gideon Peleioholani Laanui, the High chief who escaped the slaughter of Kawaihae when Keoua Kuahuula was killed. Her mother was High Chiefess Theresa Owana Kaheiheimalie Rives, a relative of Queen Kaahumanu and daughter of Kamehameha II French Secretary. Through her father's first marriage to Lydia Namahana, she was the step-niece of the Queen Kaahumanu. Elizabeth married Mr. Frank Seaver Pratt, General Council of the Hawaiian Kingdom in 1864. They did not have any children of their own, although Princess Elizabeth adopted her niece, Theresa Laanui, (daughter of Elizabeth's brother, Gideon Laanui II).
In 1920, at the age of 86 Princess Elizabeth wrote a book, Keoua Father of Kings, a tribute to her renowned ancestor Keoua Kalanikupuapaikalaninui. A chronical of events in the life and times of Keoua and his son, Kamehameha. It has been republished in 1999 by her great, great nephew, David Castro.
At the death bed of King Kamehameha V, he had asked Elizabeth to be his successor, She declined at the time as well as Princess Bernice Pauahi. Princess Elizabeth was the last survivor of the Royal School. She outlived the entire Kalakaua Dynasty. Also being the only surviving member from the Kamehameha Dynasty to live into the 20th century. She died at the age of 94 in Honolulu, Oahu.
