Prince William
LEICESTER: has offered his condolences to the family of the owner of the Leicester soccer club and the four others who perished in a helicopter crash.
William says his “thoughts today are with the family and friends of Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha and all the victims” in the helicopter, which went down next to the stadium on Saturday.
The prince, who is the president of the English Football Association, says he had known the 60-year-old retail entrepreneur for several years. | TOKYO: Princess Ayako married commoner yesterday at a traditional ceremony at Tokyo’s Meiji Shrine to become the latest female royal to leave Japan’s imperial family.
The 28-year-old princess, the third daughter of Emperor Akihito’s late cousin Prince Takamado, tied the knot with 32-year-old Moriya of shipping company Nippon Yusen.
The princess wore a many-layered court kimono and moulded hairdo typical of the imperial aristocracy, while the groom wore a black tuxedo with grey trousers for the ceremony at the shrine dedicated to the spirit of her great-grandfather, Emperor Meiji.
Japanese royals have been given freedom to marry whom they choose for at least three generations. Emperor Akihito was the first crown prince to marry a commoner, who became Empress Michiko. Princess Ayako had to renounce her imperial status because she married a commoner, as is the practice for women under Japan’s succession law. |