Anyone who looks at it thinks it's a movie story, but it's not! The Japanese Princess Mako of Akishino (眞子) will soon marry a commoner and will set aside her royal fortune and relinquish her noble title.
Princess Mako is 30 years old and is the eldest daughter of Prince Fumihito and Princess Kiko. She also bears the weight of being the niece of Emperor Naruhito and the eldest granddaughter of Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko.
In addition to Japanese princess Mako, other heirs are her younger brothers Princess Kako, 27 years old, and Hisahito of Akishino, 16 years old.
But what exactly does the Japanese princess lose by marrying someone who is not a member of the royal family? How did the princess and the commoner meet? And is the Japanese imperial family at risk of extinction? Let’s check all of this in this article.
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Japanese princess life
Princess Mako like every royal person had a great education, speaks English and German, studied at the Gakushuin school which is an educational institution aimed at people of noble titles. She also attended some universities and in her last one she met her current fiancé.
Mako studied at the University of Dublin in 2010 located in Ireland, in 2012 he studied at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland. And from 2014 to 2015 he went to England to study at the University of Leicester where he studied Arts and did an internship at the Coventry Museum.
Apparently Mako liked to remain unnoticed, lead a normal life without the responsibility of representing the royal family at official events.
According to information from a Jornal Nacional de Portugal, the purpose of the Japanese princess Mako when attending University in England was the debauchery that she could have, there she was not treated as a noble and many did not even recognize her. The princess even lived in a university residence.
Even though she is the eldest daughter and holds the title of princess, Mako of Akishino is not in line for the throne because she is a woman, this responsibility is solely reserved for men closest to the lineage to occupy the throne and her younger brother.
As a Japanese princess, she must comply with certain protocols related to her position. She usually attends the imperial family at events, mainly those focused on culture and education in various countries.
In 2018, Princess Mako was in Brazil for the event to celebrate 120 years of Japanese immigration, she was received by former president Michel Temer.
The Japanese Princess and the Commoner
Princess Mako and her fiancé, Kei Komuro met during their art college, they studied at the same institution but he studied law. He is now a lawyer. In May 2017 they officially announced their engagement and set the date for November 2018, but months later the wedding was postponed.
The Imperial House has spoken out saying that Mako postponed the wedding to think better about his decision. But after the press investigated the real reason, they discovered that they had actually postponed the wedding because of financial problems involving the mother of the groom.
Komuro's mother owed her ex-husband the equivalent of 185,000 yen to finance her son's studies. The father claims that it was a loan and the mother that it was a gift. Three years later, in 2020, Princess Mako stated that the marriage was still standing. The celebration has been rescheduled for late 2021.
Upon marrying, Mako Akishino loses her title of princess, will no longer be able to participate in royal events, and has also decided not to receive the dowry valued at over 152.5 million yen (7.2 million reais) that is given to the royal women who marry commoners.
After the wedding, the couple must live in New York where Kei Komuro wants to practice law. He graduated in early 2021 and took the exam to practice law, the result comes out in December. The wedding must not follow any traditional ritual, it will only be held in Japan after reg and moving to the American city.
Is the Japanese royal family threatened with extinction?
As already mentioned, only male can occupy the throne and if a man marries a commoner he does not lose his title nor his position.
This still generates a lot of discussion these days even more with the Japanese princess Mako's wedding approaching. These laws are decreasing the options that the imperial family has regarding the next heirs.
Currently, there are only three men in the line of succession. Of the 18 of the royal family, 13 are women. The Yamato dynasty is the oldest royal house on the planet.
The questioning of possible changes in royalty divides opinion. Some think that considering having women in charge violates tradition, while others believe that this would be the best way to save the family's existence.
The proposal stood until the birth of the Japanese princess' younger brother in 2006, after which the concern subsided. In the past, men who were at the head of royalty who could not have children even resorted to having children out of wedlock.
Will the marriage between the Japanese princess and the commoner interfere so much with the Japanese royal family?
