Princess Mako of Japan has renounced her royal title in order to marry her college lover and commoner boyfriend, Kei Komuro.
Female members of the imperial family, under Japanese law, lose their royal status when they marry a “commoner”, but male members do not.
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Princess Mako also declined a sum of 150 million yen (about £985,000) offered to royal females upon their departure from the family, skipping the traditional formalities of a royal wedding. She is the first woman in the royal dynasty to refuse both.
Ms Mako, wearing a pale blue gown and carrying a bouquet of flowers, left her home around 10 a.m. on Tuesday, October 25, after bowing to her parents Crown Prince Fumihito and Crown Princess Kiko and hugging her younger sister Princess Kako. Before leaving the royal family’s residence, she waved to her parents.
According to the Imperial Household Agency, the pair registered their marriage on Tuesday morning by completing paperwork at a municipal office in Tokyo’s Akasaka estate.
Ms Mako apologized for whatever problems her marriage has caused in a press conference on Tuesday.
“I am very sorry for the inconvenience caused and I am grateful for those… who have continued to support me,” she said, according to an NHK report. “For me, Kei is irreplaceable – marriage was a necessary choice for us.”
Mr Kumuro added that he loved Ms Mako and wants to spend his life with her.
The newlyweds are expected to address the media in a news conference later in the day.
“Some of the questions took mistaken information as fact and upset the princess,” an official from the Imperial Household Agency, according to Japanese public broadcaster NHK.
After marriage, the couple is expected to move to the United States of America, where Mr. Komuro works as a lawyer.
