Princess Mako gazes adoringly at her beau as she tries to ignore all the brouhaha surrounding her engagement to the much-maligned commoner
Japan's Empress Michiko is amazed and saddened at the situation of her eldest grandchild, princess Mako, who is engaged to be married to a commoner. The commoner in question is no other than Kei Komuro whom the princess met at Tokyo's International Christian University.
Now, the Empress is at the forefront of royal efforts to abort the ''strange engagement'' of princess Mako to Komuro. This is expected to happen before the world’s longest-reigning monarch, Emperor Akihito, abdicates the throne in April, 2019.
Ironically, the Empress was a commoner herself before she married her husband, the current emperor. Surprisingly, Empress Michiko is not convinced that her granddaughter has a future with Komuro especially considering that Mako will be surrendering her royal title for marrying a commoner.
Although, like Komuro, the Empress was a commoner, that is where the similarity ends. While she was the daughter of a wealthy businessman, Komuro comes from a family riddled with debts.
Princess Mako's relationship with Komuro was therefore “frozen” when the Imperial Household Agency announced the postponement of their engagement after reports emerged that his mother had failed to repay a 4.3m yen (£30,000) loan.
The empress was livid that Komuro “kept such a secret.” This led to him being described as an insincere charlatan.
In fairness to the parents of the 26-year-old princess, Prince Akishino and Princess Kiko, they were keen to give the union a chance. They asked Komuro, their possible future son-in-law, to present a “life plan”, including details of his future career. However, it became clear that the pressure was becoming too much for the bewildered commoner.
Also, Komuro's mother, Kayo had refused to discuss her finances, despite a summons to the palace.
All these deepened the royal family’s unease.
Princess Mako's parents
The last straw was when in August, Komuro left for New York to study law at Fordham University. This move was said to have been revealed to Mako shortly before his departure. Her father, Prince Akishino, second in line to the throne, was quick to call this “an act of betrayal”.
Prince Akishino eventually went public with the Royal Family's position. He appeared to drive a royal nail into the coffin of the engagement when he said :
“We cannot perform the ritual of exchanging betrothal gifts until many people are convinced and happy.”
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