Since announcing their engagement in 2017, the couple became a target of tabloids that spoke of the financial difficulties of Komuro’s commoner family.
But finally, “lthe marriage papers were completed and accepted“, said a person in charge of the imperial house of Japan to AFP.
Television images showed the emperor’s princess and niece Naruhito leaving the imperial residence of Akasaka. Holding a bouquet of pale pink flowers, Mako said goodbye with a bow from her parents and the press, and a hug from her sister.
“Kei is an irreplaceable being,” Mako said in a statement broadcast live on television.
“I love Mako,” her husband proclaimed in turn, adding that “from now on I want to be next to the love of my life.”
In the imperial family of Japan, women cannot access the Chrysanthemum Throne and lose their title when they marry a commoner.
But for the first time in postwar Japanese history, the 30-year-old princess and her fiancé, the same age, and a lawyer at an American firm, they married without the traditional ritual.
What’s more, Mako gave up a large sum usually offered to women of the imperial family on the occasion of their wedding.
When the couple got engaged four years ago, it was all shy smiles. Komuro described Mako as “the moon” who guarded him discreetly and she compared his smile to the sun.
But when the press began delving into Komuro’s past, reports surfaced that his mother failed to repay a 4 million yen ($ 35,000) loan to a former fiancé.
The dispute, still unresolved, caused a scandal in Japan, where impeccable behavior is expected from members of the imperial family.
So much media attention caused complex post-traumatic stress to Mako, the imperial agency recently acknowledged.
The couple delayed their marriage and Komuro moved to New York to study law in 2018, a decision interpreted as an attempt to escape the press.
The recent graduate returned to Japan last month, sporting a new hairstyle with a small ponytail.
“There are different opinions about my marriage to Kei,” Mako acknowledged on Tuesday. “I would like to thank those who care about me and those who have always supported us, without listening to unfounded rumors,” added the princess.
Despite this bad press, in a poll by the Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper, half of those polled approved the link, against 33% against it.
It is speculated that the couple plans to move to the United States, prompting comparisons against another royal couple also under heavy media pressure: Prince Harry of England and his wife Meghan Markle.
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