A backwards fairytale
A 25-year-old Japanese princess will lose her title after marriage.
The Japanese royal family is said to be able to trace its ancestry back 2,600 years, but in 2018 it stands to lose a key member. Princess Mako is the Emperor’s eldest granddaughter, but after her marriage she will no longer be a princess.
In Japan, female royals lose their status when they marry a commoner – someone who isn’t also a member of the aristocracy. The princess doesn’t seem too fussed, however. “I’ve been aware since my childhood that I would lose royal status once I married,” she says. “While I’ve worked to help the emperor and fulfil duties as a royal family member as much as I can, I’ve been cherishing my own life.”
What she means is that she has made sure that her life doesn’t just revolve around royal duties. In fact, Mako is well travelled and well educated. The princess met her future husband, Kei Komuro, at university, where she studied art and cultural heritage. She also spent time abroad, studying in Edinburgh for nine months.
She returned to the UK in 2014, to complete her studies at the University of Leicester. While there, she got a taste of normality. She didn’t live as a royal, but instead stayed alongside her fellow students in the university’s halls of residence. She also spent two months doing work experience at Coventry Museum. Princess Mako’s teachers remember her as a “fantastic student”, and she in turn described her year’s study as a “great experience”.
Now, alongside her royal duties in Japan, Mako works as a museum researcher while continuing her studies. She’ll remain a royal until her wedding, expected to take place next year. If she’s sad about losing her title, she’s not showing it. Her future husband, Komuro, has described how Mako watches over him “like the Moon”, and Mako has praised Komuro’s “smile like the Sun”.
Most fairytales end with a character becoming a prince or princess. This is the opposite, but to the princess, it doesn’t seem to matter at all.