Royal You Should Know About: Princess Mako
Official Title: Her Imperial Highness Princess Mako
Place in Order of Precedence: Princess Mako is the first child and oldest daughter of Prince Fumihito and Princess Kiko, and a member of the Japanese imperial family. She is the niece of Emperor Naruhito and the eldest grandchild of Emperor Emeritus Akihito and Empress Emerita Michiko. While her father is the heir to the throne, Japan has a very strict Imperial Household Law, which defines the rules of succession to the throne using agnatic primogeniture, so like her cousin Aiko, Princess Toshi, who is the only daughter of the Emperor, she will never see the throne. That said, since her father was named the heir when Emperor Nahurito took the throne, she has become a more involved working member of the Imperial family.
Romantic History: I first learned about Princess Mako because of the chatter surrounding her engagement. She announced in May 2017, that was was engaged to Kei Komuro, a graduate of International Christian University (ICU), who she met while she was studying in the UK. Like her paternal aunt and others, when she marries a commoner, she will formally lose her title and become a commoner herself (this is required by law). However, it’s been a rocky road for the pair. The wedding was originally scheduled for November 2018, but then postponed to 2020 because Kei Komuro and his family had a financial issue that the imperial family disapproves of (more on that below).
In November 2020 the Imperial Household Agency announced that there was still no anticipated date for the wedding and called it a "necessary choice" for the couple. Mako will become the ninth female member of the family to marry a commoner since the passage of the Imperial Household Law, so this isn’t unprecedented or scandalous, but is notable in being unique to royal families.
Work and Key Patronages:
In 2011, Mako came of age and was conferred Grand Cordon of the Order of the Precious Crown. Since then, she has been attending official events as an adult member of the Imperial Family.
She is interested in art and architecture, and became the project researcher of the University of Tokyo's museum in April 2016. She also worked as a volunteer in the affected areas of the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami without revealing her identity. She is fluent in Japanese Sign Language and is interested in the Deaf community, like her mother, Princess Akishino.
Why You Want to Have Tea with Her:
Princess Mako was born October 23, 1991 at Imperial Household Agency Hospital in the Tokyo Imperial Palace. Princess Mako has a younger sister, Princess Kako, and a younger brother, Prince Hisahito. She was educated at the Gakushūin School and then graduated from the International Christian University in Mitaka, Tokyo in 2014 with a Bachelor's degree in Art and Cultural Heritage, which included nine months studying art history at the University of Edinburgh from September 2012 to May 2013. She also briefly studied English at University College, Dublin from July–August 2010 and in 2014 studied Museum Studies at the University of Leicester for a year, receiving a Master's degree in January 2016. This follows in royal tradition, as many royal family members from around the globe will spend time in the UK to become fluent in English and pursue their education.
The Japanese royal family is insanely scandal-averse and the press follows suit in keeping any drama under wraps. Princess Mako’s delayed wedding to Kei Komuro is definitely the biggest news out there, but even the initial reports around that were fairly vague and mysterious. What are these “financial issues”? Well apparently, it was delayed because of “an unresolved dispute regarding his mother and her former fiance” - apparently the fiance had paid for a significant portion of Komuro’s education (he is currently getting his law degree at Fordham in New York) and wanted some of this money back, now that he broke up with Komuro’s mother, but SHE considered these funds to be a gift. Since Princess Mako will receive a one-time, tax-free lump sum payout of up to $1.4 million, it’s possible that the Imperial Household Agency could have been concerned that Komuro was keen to marry as a means to gain access to some of this cash. It’s been resolved, with the parties reaching a settlement valued at approximately $36,600. Komuro will pay these funds directly to his mother’s former fiance. The public sentiment is very negative with surveys showing a lot of skepticism despite how long the two have been together. Taxpayers do not want money to flow to him after this and gossip has suggested that the Imperial family is paying his way/helped him get into law school, an unpopular rumor. This “scandal” would be so insignificant for the European monarchies, so it’s fascinating that it is such a big deal in Japan, where up until the last 100 years, the Emperor was revered as a god.