House of Kawananakoa
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The House of Kawananakoa, or the Kawananakoa Dynasty in Waiting, is the historically recognized presumptive heirs to the throne of the now defunct Kingdom of Hawaii. A branch of the reigning House of Kalakaua, the dynastic line was established by Prince David Kawananakoa who was declared to be in the line of royal succession through a proclamation of King David Kalakaua. Kawananakoa was affianced to Princess Victoria Kaiulani, who would have become a monarch in her own right upon the death of Queen Liliuokalani.
The House of Kawananakoa survives today and is the only recognized royal family of the United States. Elders of the family retain the titles of prince and princess, honorifics that have been bestowed upon them by the residents of Hawaii as a matter of tradition and respect of their status as ali'i or chiefs. The House of Kawananakoa in contemporary Hawaiian politics is closely alligned with the Hawaii Republican Party, a political party it helped organize since the creation of the Territory of Hawaii. Its matriarch Abigail Kawananakoa became a national party leader in the early years of the twentieth century.
While many historians, individual members of the Government of Hawaii (as a matter of opinion and not policy), and a majority of Hawaii residents have considered the House of Kawananakoa the rightful heirs to the throne, smaller factions of native Hawaiians with objections to the family's ties to the Hawaii Republican Party have chosen instead to support various other branches of the greater House of Kamehameha (of which both the Kalakaua and Kawananakoa dynasties are branches) as having rights to the throne. An even smaller group would like to maintain the abolition of the monarchy and organize a democratic republic should native Hawaiians achieve independence.
Heirs Presumptive
Listed below are the declared heirs presumptive of the throne of Hawaii, past and present. Should the Hawaiian sovereignty movement succeed in the reinstitution of the Hawaiian monarchy, the heir presumptive would be declared monarch with the mandate of a plebiscite and constitution.