Japan’s Princess Mako set to finally marry her commoner boyfriend after controversy, delays
TOKYO: After years of controversy, Japan’s Princess Mako will marry this month, but she will forego traditional rites and will not take a usual payment given to royal women marrying commoners.
“Princess Mako will marry on October 26,” an Imperial Household Agency official said, adding that the “wedding ceremony, reception banquet and other rituals won’t be held, and a lumpsum payment won’t be provided”.
Princess Mako, who is the niece of Emperor Naruhito, had been engaged to sweetheart Kei Komuro since 2017.
But the union had come under criticism, with the agency saying the 29-year-old princess was suffering from complex post-traumatic stress disorder because of media coverage.
Mako, the daughter of Japan’s crown prince, has endured years of sniping and stalling over her plans to marry Komuro, also 29.
Japan’s imperial succession rules mean that Mako will lose her title after the marriage. Her partner has been heavily scrutinised over allegations that his mother borrowed money from a former fiance and had failed to repay it.
After tabloid reports on the claims, a furore erupted around the young couple in a country where the royal family is held to an exacting standard.
The pair postponed their wedding, and Komuro moved to the United States for law school in a move that was widely seen as a bid to defuse the negative attention.
Crown Prince Akishino last year said he supported his daughter’s marriage, but that she needed to win the public’s “understanding”.
However, the pair appear to have decided they have waited long enough, and are now expected to move to New York after marrying.
Komuro returned to Japan earlier this week to a media frenzy.