The so-called last of Hawaii’s royalty died Sunday.

Abigail Kinoiki Kekaulike Kawānanakoa, who was considered the last Hawaiian princess with ancestors that traced back to the royal family that once ruled the islands, died peacefully at the age of 96 next to her 69-year-old wife, according to a Monday morning announcement.

Kawānanakoa was remembered for her dedication and generosity to the islands as well as her immense wealth to the tune of a $215 million trust that came from the sugar plantation business generations earlier and her successful passion for breeding racehorses.

She held no formal title but was a living symbol of the Hawaiian monarchy before the kingdom was overthrown by American businessmen in 1893.

“Abigail will be remembered for her love of Hawai‘i and its people,” her wife Veronica Gail Kawānanakoa said in a statement, “and I will miss her with all of my heart.”

Her great-grandfather James Campbell, an Irish businessman and one of Hawaii’s largest landowners that struck rich in the sugar cane industry, married Abigail Kuaihelani Maipinepine Bright. Their daughter then married Prince David Kawānanakoa, who was named an heir to the throne.

Finally, the prince and his wife Abigail Wahiika‘ahu‘ula Campbell had their daughter Lydia Kamaka‘eha Liliu‘okulani Kawānanakoa Morris who eventually gave birth to Abigail in Honolulu.

When the prince died, his widow adopted their grandchild Abigail, which helped boost her right to call herself a princess, though she admitted to Honolulu Magazine in 2021 that if monarchy persisted, her cousin would have been the island’s next ruler instead of her.

“Of course, I would be the power behind the throne, there’s no question about that,” she joked.

Behind her vast wealth, the princess also seemed to amuse herself when people came asking for money.

When the bishop from the Catholic Diocese of Honolulu asked if she could spare $100,000 to mark the canonization of St. Marianne, she replied only if a photo was taken of Pope Benedict XVI accepting the check, her personal attorney until 2017, Jim Wright, recalled.

Wright said Kawānanakoa was left disappointed when the bishop agreed.

“She was really hoping they would tell her to buzz off,” Wright said, while noting she was heartened when the Dalai Lama rejected her money in 2012.

“She was always curious about what people would do for money,” Wright said.

Still, Kawānanakoa donated to countless causes including scholarships for Native Hawaiian students, opposing Honolulu’s rail transit project, and in support of protests against a giant telescope.

She even donated a 14-carat diamond pinky ring worn by King Kalākaua that was among the many items she gave away from the king and Queen Kapiʻolani for public display.

She also helped maintain ʻIolani Palace, which was America’s only royal residence. The monarchy lived there, but now it mostly serves as a museum.

When Kawānanakoa posed on the throne at the ʻIolani Palace for a 1998 Life Magazine photo shoot, she damaged some of its fragile threads, which led to her ouster as president of Friends of ʻIolani Palace after more than 25 years.

Her horse breeding led to her induction into the American Quarter Horse Hall of Fame in 2018 due to her “all-time leading female breeder at the reins of an operation that has produced the earners of more than $10 million,” the American Quarter Horse Association noted.

One of her horses even won $1 million in the 1993 All-American Futurity in New Mexico.

Hawaii Gov. Josh Green ordered US and Hawaii state flags be flown at half-staff at the state Capitol and state offices until Sunday.

“Hawaii mourns this great loss,” he said. 

With Post wires