Notes for Elizabeth Kekaaniau (Ke-ka-a-ni'au)
* Elizabeth Kekaikuihala Kekaaniauokalani Kalaninuiohilaukapu
* Elizabeth Kekaaniau Pratt (Mrs. Pratt)
Princess Elizabeth Kekaʻaniau Laʻanui or Elizabeth Kekaikuihala Kekaaniauokalani Kalaninuiohilaukapu Laʻanui (September 12, 1834–December 20, 1928) was a great grandniece of Kamehameha I, being a great granddaughter of Prince Kalokuokamaile, the older brother of Kamehameha I. She was born in her family home at Waialua. She was given the name Elizabeth after her mother's adoptive mother Queen Elizabeth Kaʻahumanu and the Hawaiian name after Princess Kekaikuihala, her father's elder sister. Her full birth name was 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 for the children of the highest rank in the kingdom who eligible to be rulers. She was taught by missionaries Mr. and Mrs. Amos Star Cooke. Her cousins Queen Emma and Bernice Pauahi, called her Lizzie.
Her father was High Chief Gideon Peleioholani Laʻanui who escaped the slaughter of Kawaihae when Keoua Kuahuula was killed. Her mother was High Chiefess Theresa Owana Kaheiheimalie Rives, a relative of Queen Kaʻahumanu and daughter of Kamehameha II's French Secretary. Through her father's first marriage to Lydia Namahana, she was the step-niece of the Queen Kaʻahumanu. Elizabeth married Frank Seaver Pratt, General Council of the Hawaiian Kingdom, in 1864. They did not have any children of their own, although they adopted her niece, Theresa Laanui, (daughter of her 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 and his son, Kamehameha I. It was republished in 1999 by her great-great nephew, David Castro. It was republished again in 2009.
At the death bed of King Kamehameha V, he had asked Elizabeth to be his successor. She declined at the time, as did Princess Bernice Pauahi. Princess Elizabeth was the last survivor of the Royal School. She outlived the entire House of Kalākaua, and was the only surviving relative from the House of Kamehameha to live into the 20th century. She died at the age of 94 in Honolulu, Oahu in 1928.
FROM:
Elizabeth Kekaaniauokalani Kalaninuiohilaukapu Pratt (2009) . History of Keoua Kalanikupuapa-i-nui: father of Hawaii kings, and his descendants. T. H., republished by Kessinger Publishing. ISBN 9781104766610.