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Japan’s Princess Mako is giving up her royal status to marry her boyfriend

After all the speculation, Princess Mako of Japan is finally going to marry her lover, former classmate, a commoner,  this month  and giving up her royal status. According to the Imperial Household Agency, they will get married on October 26. The news was published by BBC.

he couple were initially set to wed in 2018, but this was put off, reportedly after accounts that Mr Komuro’s family had run into financial difficulties.

They are expected to move to the US – where Mr Komuro works as a lawyer – after marriage.

Their movements have been heavily covered in local media.

This excessive media coverage around the princess – whose father is Crown Prince Fumihito – and Mr Komuro’s family over the years has caused the princess to suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder, the Imperial Household Agency said, according to news outlet Kyodo.

Her aunt, Empress Masako, also suffered from a stress-related illness, having faced intense pressure to produce a male heir. There is often stigma around mental illnesses in Japan.

The couple first met in 2012 as students at the International Christian University in Tokyo.

Japan’s Princess Mako is giving up her royal status to marry her boyfriend
Japan’s Princess Mako arrives at the ceremony site where Emperor Naruhito will report the conduct of the enthronement ceremony at the Imperial Sanctuary inside the Imperial Palace in Tokyo, Japan October 22, 2019

They were engaged in 2017 and were set to wed the following year. But news later surfaced of Mr Komuro’s mother’s financial problems – she had reportedly taken a loan from her ex-fiancé and not paid him back.

The palace denied the delay was linked to this, though Crown Prince Fumihito said it was important for the money issues to be dealt with before they got married.

Princess Mako will reportedly forego a traditional lump-sum payment of up to 150 million yen ($1.3m; £0.97m) which is typically given to a member of the royal family upon their departure from the household.

She is also expected to skip the usual rites associated with a royal family wedding. If she skips both the payment and the rites it will make her the first female member of the royal family to do so.

Japan’s imperial law means only male heirs are allowed to inherit the throne.

If the other unmarried princesses of the family married commoners, they would also lose their royal status. That could leave the imperial family without enough members to carry out its public duties.

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