Japan: Princess Mako marries commoner boyfriend Kei Komuro, gives up her royal title

Subduing months of disapproval and controversies, Japanese Princess Mako, on Tuesday married her college sweetheart and aspiring lawyer Kei Komuro, quitting her royal status. Early on Monday, the palace submitted marriage documents of the couple, which has lately been likened to UK’s Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. While Mako has been engaged to Kei since 2017, their relationship has been in controversy, primarily due to a financial dispute involving Kei’s mother. 

No longer a member of the Japanese Royal Household, Mako has now taken the surname of her husband and has become Mako Komuro. Interestingly, this is the first time she will have a family name. In the Japanese Imperial Family, only male members are allowed to use the family name while females are only given titles. The couple is now scheduled to leave for New York where Kei will seek a future in the field of law. 

According to Japan’s Imperial Household Agency, the couple will make a statement to the press later in the afternoon. While earlier a press conference was scheduled that said, Mako will now only give answers in a written statement. As per the Palace, the former princess has developed a kind of stress disorder due to tabloid frenzy related to her relationship. Earlier, Japanese media said that the 30-year-old skipped multiple traditional ceremonies but met her parents, Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako, on Friday. 

Mako's tale of love 

Mako and Komuro reportedly met at International Christian University where they pursued the education together and then became acquainted at a restaurant in the Shibuya district of Tokyo. “First, I was attracted by his bright smile,” the Japanese princess was quoted as saying to Telegraph. While Komuro proposed to the princess in December 2013, the couple had been in a long-distance relationship as Mako pursued her master’s degree in Art Museum and Gallery Studies at Leicester University in England. She graduated in 2016. The Imperial Household announced the couple’s plan to get married in 2021 back in November 2018 as they were too young to get married at that time.

Image: AP