Keanolani

Her illegitimate birth and unacknowledged parentage prevented her from succeeding to the Hawaiian throne when her father died without naming an heir, thus ending the reign of the House of Kamehameha.

[6][7][8] However, the thirteen-year-old Maheha had left the school at the insistence of her teachers, and was married off to Keaupuni to cover an unexpected pregnancy.

However, during and after her lifetime, speculation has focused on two princes of the Kamehameha dynasty: the seventeen-year-old Moses Kekūāiwa, who was the eldest boy at the Royal School, or his sixteen-year-old brother Lot Kapuāiwa, who later became King Kamehameha V. Evidence points toward Lot because Moses was expelled from the school two days before Maheha.

[4][9][10][11] Keanolani was raised by Princess Ruth Keʻelikōlani, her namesake (one of Keʻelikōlani's secondary name was Keanolani) and the half-sister of Kamehameha V.[12][13] Kamehameha V reigned from 1863 to his death on December 11, 1872, without acknowledging his daughter or naming an heir to the throne, and was succeeded by his cousin Lunalilo.

[16] While still married to her first husband Lihilihi, Keanolani became the mistress of William Hoapili Kaʻauwai, an Anglican chaplain and a high chief of Mauian descent who had divorced her half-aunt Kiliwehi in 1872.

[17][18] Queen Emma, the widow of Kamehameha IV and former patron of Hoapili and Kiliwehi, noted the illicit affair in her letters in 1873.

She reports Kiliwehi recovering under Dr. Hutchison’s treatment...."[18] Keanolani had an illegitimate son which she named William Hoapili Kaʻauwai II, born on January 31, 1874.

According to the 1898 memoir of Liliʻuokalani, Keano and Princess Victoria Kinoiki Kekaulike carried the train of the robe of Queen Kapiʻolani during the 1883 coronation ceremony.

She continued living at Pualeilani when her nephews Princes David Kawānanakoa and Jonah Kūhiō Kalanianaʻole inherited the property.

The press initially described her as "old and mentally infirm" but also commented favorably on her noble bearing and knowledge of court etiquette.

The funeral service on the next day was conducted by Reverend Henry Hodges Parker, the pastor of Kawaiahaʻo Church.