Princess Mako will finally marry her former classmate, a commoner, this month, but will be giving up her royal status, and a forfeiting a traditional lump-sum payment on leaving the imperial household.
The princess and her partner, Kei Komuro, are expected to move to the United States – where he works as a lawyer – after their marriage, which is set for 26 October.
According to the BBC, the couple first met in 2012 as students at the International Christian University in Tokyo. They were engaged in 2017 and were set to wed a year later, but the event was postponed reportedly because the Komuro family ran into financial difficulties.
The palace denied the delay was linked to this, though Princess Mako’s father, Crown Prince Fumihito, is reported to have indicated that it was important for the money issues to be dealt with before they got married.
Princess Mako will reportedly forego a traditional lump-sum payment of up to 150 million yen ($1.3m), which is typically given to a member of the royal family upon their departure from the household.
She is also expected to skip the usual rites associated with a royal family wedding. If she skips both the payment and the rites, it will make her the first female member of the royal family to do so.