PRINCESS BRIDE’S SAYONARA
Gives up title, $1M for NYer
A Japanese princess who is a niece of the country’s Emperor Naruhito is giving up her royal title and turning down a $1.35 million payment so she can marry her commoner college sweetheart — a recent graduate of Fordham Law School in Manhattan.
Princess Mako and Kei Komuro, both 29, had announced their engagement in 2017, when her grandfather, Akihito, was emperor, but they put off the nuptials because of a financial dispute involving Komuro’s mother.
Mako and Komuro met in 2012 at a restaurant while both were studying at the International Christian University in Tokyo.
The Japanese government is set to agree that Mako will forgo the payment for royals who relinquish their status to marry commoners, according to public broadcaster NHK, which said a wedding date may be announced in October.
Komuro, who graduated from Fordham in May and now lives and works for a law firm in the United States, arrived at Narita International Airport outside Tokyo on Monday to prepare to tie the knot, Kyodo News reported.
It was his first trip back to Japan since 2018, when he left to study in New York City.
He is expected to hold a news conference with his wife-to-be after spending two weeks in quarantine, as required by COVID-19 protocols, the outlet reported.
The couple reportedly expects to live in the US.
They delayed their wedding for three years after reports emerged of a dispute between Komuro’s mom and her former fiancé over $36,000 in financial support, including money spent on his education, according to Kyodo News.
In April, Komuro released a statement seeking to correct what he called the public’s misunderstanding of his mother’s financial status. He also reportedly offered to make a payment to her ex-fiancé to settle the dispute. Public opinion has been mixed. “If they love each other and want to get married, then I wish to congratulate them,” a 43-year-old woman from Chiba Prefecture who was at Narita Airport when Komuro arrived told Kyodo News.
Another woman, a 69-year-old from Sapporo, said Komuro “should ensure accountability before getting married,” referring to his family’s financial troubles.
Mako won’t be Japan’s first princess to step down. In 2005, her aunt, Princess Sayako, abdicated to become the first Japanese royal to marry a commoner.