Japanese Princess Mako arrives at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo to see Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako on Oct. 22, 2021, before her marriage with Kei Komuro on Oct. 26. (Pool photo/Kyodo)
TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Japanese Princess Mako met with her uncle Emperor Naruhito and aunt Empress Masako on Friday before her controversial marriage to her commoner boyfriend Kei Komuro scheduled for next week.
The princess visited the couple at the Imperial Palace alone in lieu of the "Choken no Gi" rite, an official meeting with the emperor and empress on the occasion of a marriage involving a member of the imperial family. She skipped a series of ceremonies amid public concern over an unresolved financial dispute involving Komuro's mother.
She is also scheduled to meet her grandparents -- former Emperor Akihito and former Empress Michiko -- on Monday, the day before her marriage, according to the Imperial Household Agency.
Under the current rules, women lose their royal status once they marry a commoner. The princess, who will turn 30 on Saturday, is expected to move to New York, where Komuro works at a law firm, after their marriage is registered in Japan on Tuesday.
Her maternal grandfather Tatsuhiko Kawashima, 81, a professor emeritus at Gakushuin University, has been hospitalized since Tuesday, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Princess Mako visited the Tokyo hospital with her mother, Crown Princess Kiko, and her younger sister, Princess Kako, on Tuesday afternoon to see Kawashima, the person said.
The marriage between the princess and Komuro, who attended the same university in Tokyo, has faced nearly three years of delay due to reports detailing financial trouble between Komuro's mother and her former fiance that stirred public controversy.
The princess and Komuro were unofficially engaged in September 2017, with their wedding initially scheduled to take place on Nov. 4, 2018. But the agency announced in February the same year the postponement of ritual ceremonies.
Font Size S M L Print Timeline 0