Society

Princess Mako, Komuro Kei get married

Oct 26 (NHK) - Japan's Princess Mako has officially left the Imperial household and is now a commoner. She married her former college classmate Komuro Kei on Tuesday.

Mako left the Imperial family's Akasaka Estate in Tokyo on Tuesday morning. Her parents, Crown Prince and Princess Akishino, and her younger sister, Princess Kako, sent her off.

An official from the Imperial Household Agency filed the couple's marriage registration with a municipal government on their behalf. That marked her departure from the Imperial family.

Princesses are entitled to a lump-sum payment when they marry, but she has declined the money.

The couple will not have the traditional wedding ceremony reserved for Imperial family members.

The two will appear before about 50 journalists at a hotel in Tokyo later in the day.

Reporters were told they could only submit questions in advance. The agency says Mako was very concerned with some of them, and a doctor advised the couple to give their answers in writing.

Earlier this month, the Imperial Household Agency released a statement saying Mako had been diagnosed with PTSD after repeated public criticism.

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