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Japan's Princess Mako to marry after delay and controversy
Japan's Princess Mako will marry this month, but she will forego traditional rites and will not take a usual payment given to royal women marrying commoners.
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This file picture taken on September 3, 2017 shows Japan's Princess Mako, the eldest daughter of Prince Akishino and Princess Kiko, and her fiancee Kei Komuro at a press conference to announce their engagement at the Akasaka East Residence in Tokyo. (AFP/Shizuo Kambayashi/Pool)
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fter years of controversy, Japan's Princess Mako will marry this month, but she will forego traditional rites and will not take a usual payment given to royal women marrying commoners.
"Princess Mako will marry on October 26," an Imperial Household Agency official told AFP, adding that "wedding ceremony, reception banquet and other rituals won't be held, and a lump-sum payment won't be provided."
Princess Mako, who is the niece of Emperor Naruhito, has been engaged to sweetheart Kei Komuro since 2017.
But the union has come under criticism, with the agency saying the 29-year-old princess was suffering complex post-traumatic stress disorder because of media coverage.
Mako, the daughter of Japan's crown prince, has endured years of sniping and stalling over her plans to marry Komuro, also 29.
Japan's imperial succession rules mean that Mako will lose her title after the marriage.
But her partner has still been heavily scrutinised over allegations that his mother borrowed money from a former fiance and failed to repay it.
