It’s a hard break with tradition: because she wants to marry her great love, a Japanese princess gives up everything.
Not only in Great Britain are royals tired of always having to bow to old traditions. Princess Mako of Japan has no plans to bow to traditional protocol either. She plans to marry her fiancé Kei Komuro this year. And thus renounce a dowry of millions and possibly also your title.
The Japanese media report. The 29-year-old Mako is the daughter of Prince Akinisho, the younger brother of the Japanese Emperor Naruhito. So she is the emperor’s niece. The unusual marriage in very traditional Japan is correspondingly controversial.
Break with tradition
The marriage would have noticeable consequences for Mako. On the one hand, according to Japanese law, she might lose her title, and her husband and children would not receive any nobility titles in the event of marriage, a six-person commission had decided in August, according to the Times of Japan. And: She would also forego her dowry. That amounts to an impressive 1.2 million euros, a lot of money for future bourgeois life. There is no debate about a Mako succession to the throne: According to current Japanese law, it can only be passed on to male relatives. A son of Mako could also no longer become emperor.
The couple met a few years ago during their studies through a friend, and they have been engaged since 2017. She was attracted by his “smile that shone like the sun,” said the princess when she got engaged. After all, Mako knows her father is on her side. “I agree that you get married,” he explained. “As a parent, I should respect it if you really want this marriage.”
Fear of dishonest motives
Not everyone in the royal family shares this view. Mako’s grandmother, the former Empress Michiko, is said to have called for the relationship to be ended, according to the Times of London. She was “naive”, she said of her granddaughter.
One reason is a conflict that also led to the cancellation of the first planned wedding at the end of 2018. At that time it was found that Komuro’s mother, who was a single parent after the death of his father, was heavily in debt due to a financial conflict. The financial dispute, in which the future mother-in-law of the princess is still with her ex-husband, had ensured that the marriage was “frozen”.
The future husband had then left the country to study law in the United States. He has had his lawyer license since May of this year. The couple plan to live in the United States in the future. This is also seen as one of the reasons to move ahead with the wedding plans. Mako doesn’t seem to mind that she is the first member of the family to forego a traditional wedding. “For us, getting married is a necessary decision to live and follow our hearts,” she said. “We are irreplaceable for one another.”
Sources: ,
I am a 24-year-old writer and journalist who has been working in the news industry for the past two years. I write primarily about market news, so if you’re looking for insights into what’s going on in the stock market or economic indicators, you’ve come to the right place. I also dabble in writing articles on lifestyle trends and pop culture news.
