Lydia Liliuokalani Kawānanakoa

Who was Lydia Liliuokalani Kawānanakoa?

Princess Helen Lydia Kamakaʻeha Liliʻuokalani Kawānanakoa, was the second daughter of Prince David Kawānanakoa born during his marriage with Princess Abigail Wahiʻikaʻahuʻula Campbell Kawānanakoa. According to some she became the head of the House of Kawānanakoa upon the death of her elder brother David Kalākaua Kawānanakoa on May 20, 1953 while some believe it was her elder sister Princess Abigail Kapiʻolani Kawānanakoa. Basically the House of Kawānanakoa had split into two by 1953. Some support Princess Lydia, the younger of the two princesses, because her eldest sister, Abigail's, legitimacy has been questioned even by both the girls' father, Prince David Kawānanakoa.

Lydia Kawānanakoa was named after her great-aunt, Queen Liliʻuokalani, from whom the family inherited the pretending throne of Hawaiʻi. During her youth, she was known to as the flapper princess and sported the then fashionable bobbed hair. Princess Lydia married five times: first to Dr. William Jeremiah Ellerbrock on January 17, 1925 at Honolulu. Her second marriage was to Charles James Brenham at Niu, August 11, 1928. Her third husband was Clark Lee, fourth Charles Morris and fifth a Mr. Dowsett. She had one daughter from her first marriage: Princess Abigail Kinoiki Kekaulike Kawānanakoa. She was the Founder of the Kona Hawaiian Civic Club in 1952 and was President of Friends of ʻIolani Palace 1966-1969.