Japanese princess to wed a commoner, will lose royal status
I was aware since my childhood that I’ll leave a royal status once I marry, Princess Mako, the eldest granddaughter of Japanese Emperor Akihito
tokyo — Princess Mako, the eldest granddaughter of Japanese Emperor Akihito, will wed a former classmate, the Imperial Household said on Sunday, confirming a marriage that will further deplete the royal family since she must become a commoner.
The announcement was aired by public broadcaster NHK.
Like all female imperial family members, Mako forfeits her status upon marriage to a commoner under a controversial tradition. The law does not apply to royal males.
But at a televised press conference held to announce her engagement, she told the nation that she felt “really happy”.
“I was aware since my childhood that I’ll leave a royal status once I marry,” she said. “While I worked to help the emperor and fulfill duties as a royal family member as much as I can, I’ve been cherishing my own life.”
Her fiance, Kei Komuro, a telegenic 25-year-old who works at a law firm and once won a tourism promotion contest to be crowned “Prince of the Sea”, said he proposed to her three years ago. He described Mako as someone who quietly watches over him “like the moon”.
The princess said his smile was “like the sun.”
Mako is one of only four royal grandchildren. The other three are her younger sister, Kako, her brother, Hisahito, and Crown Prince Naruhito’s daughter, Aiko.
The shrinking royal population, which mirrors the broader ageing of Japanese society, has raised concerns that the prince may also be the last. Ten-year-old Hisahito is one of four heirs to the throne behind Akihito’s two middle-aged sons, whose wives are in their early 50s, and Akihito’s octogenarian brother, Masahito.
The engagement to Kei Komuro comes after Japanese lawmakers in June approved a bill to allow Akihito to step down, the first abdication by a Japanese monarch since 1817.
A year ago, the first emperor not to be considered divine said in a rare public appearance that he feared age would make it hard to fulfil his duties. The 83-year-old has had heart surgery and been treated for prostate cancer.
But the legislation, which only applies to Akihito and not future emperors, makes no reference to the controversial topics of whether to revise a males-only succession law or to allow women to stay in the imperial family after marriage.
Conservatives fear doing so would be a first step to letting females inherit the throne.
Mako and Komuro graduated from International Christian University. She has a master’s degree from the University of Leicester and has been working as a researcher at a museum. Her fiance once served as a “Prince of the Sea” to promote tourism near Tokyo, according to media reports. —