Princess Mako of Japan – who left the royal family to marry her commoner husband – welcomes her first child

Princess Mako of Japan has welcomed her first child, the Imperial Household Agency has announced. 

Mako Komuro, who is the niece of Emperor Naruhito, left the royal family in 2021 when she married her former college classmate Kei Komuro, a commoner. 

The former princess, 33, was required to give up her royal status by law and, following her marriage, moved to New York, where her husband is a lawyer.

The decision led to comparisons with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, who also turned their backs on royal duties to live privately in the US. 

Now, she and her husband, also 33, have welcomed their first child together.  

Speaking at a press conference on Friday, a representative for the agency said both mother and child are in good health, though neither the newborn’s name nor gender were revealed. 

Fumihito, Crown Prince Akishino and Crown Princess Kiko, Mako’s parents, were said to be delighted at the news and wished the family the greatest happiness. 

‘This is a matter for a person who has left the Imperial Family, and we had hoped that she would spend her time in a quiet environment,’ said grand master Naomasa Yoshida at the conference, as reported in the Japan Times. 

‘We decided to make the announcement, however, in light of some media reports (about the birth).’

Mako made headlines around the world in 2021 when she sensationally forfeited her royal status to marry her college sweetheart, 31-year-old Kei Komuro.

They married in a civil ceremony back in 2021 and Mako moved to New York City to live with her husband. 

The low-key ceremony was met with protests, and was held behind closed doors without any of the pomp and pageantry of other Japanese royal weddings, which traditionally include a reception and banquet. 

Reading out a prepared statement at a press conference following their wedding, Mako defended her decision to marry, describing Kei as ‘irreplaceable’ and saying ‘our marriage is a necessary step for us to be able to protect our hearts.’ 

She also criticised news reports written during their engagement which she accused of spreading false information and ‘one-sided rumours’ that had left her ‘feeling sadness and pain.’ The royal household previously revealed she was suffering from PTSD.  

Formerly the Princess of Akishino, Mako, who previously held a high profile position within the royal family, took her husband’s name to go by Mako Komuro – the first time in her life that she has had a surname.

In his pre-prepared statement, Kei apologised for any distress caused but said that he loved Mako and would support her throughout their life together.

Mako forfeited her royal status to marry Kei, and they moved to New York together (pictured in NYC in 2023)

High profile: Princess Mako of Japan, right, donned a traditional Jūnihitoe as she took part in a procession through Tokyo’s Imperial Palace to mark her uncle’s formal ascension to the Chrysanthemum Throne in 2019

‘I love Mako. We only get one life, and I want us to spend it with the one we love,’ he said. ‘I feel very sad that Mako has been in a bad condition, mentally and physically, because of the false accusations.’

Mako and Komuro met at Tokyo’s International Christian University in 2013 and became engaged in secret, before announcing their intention to marry in September 2017. 

But the wedding was delayed following a financial scandal involving an unpaid debt allegedly owed by Kei’s mother and suggestions he was marrying for money. 

As part of the announcement, the royal household said Mako would forgo all traditional ceremonies and surrender a £1million payment she was entitled to according to Japanese tradition.

She became the first imperial family member since World War II to not receive the payment while marrying a commoner and chose to do so because of the criticism over her marrying a man some considered unfit for a princess. 

‘There will be different kinds of difficulties as we start our new life, but we’ll walk together as we have done so in the past,’ Mako said at the time, thanking everyone for their support.

Mako, apparently referring to mental health issues, noted ‘many people have difficulty and hurt feelings while trying to protect their hearts’. 

She said: ‘I sincerely hope that our society will be a place where more people can live and protect their hearts with the help of warm help and support from others.’ 

The decision led to comparisons with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle , who also turned their backs on royal duties to live privately in the US. Pictured at their wedding in 2018

Princess Mako was forced to give up royal life in 2021 when she married Kei Komuro

Protesters hold banners during a march against the marriage between Japan’s Princess Mako and her fiance Kei Komuro

The princess’s position within the family means she would have been afforded a full royal wedding had she chosen to marry a fellow royal. 

Mako had reportedly been making use of her background in art history by serving as an unpaid volunteer at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. 

‘She has specifically been involved in preparing an exhibition of paintings inspired by the life of a 13th-century monk who traveled throughout Japan as he introduced Buddhism,’ according to a 2022 Japan Times article.

Mako has a degree in art and cultural heritage from Japan’s International Christian University, where she met her husband.

She went on to study art history at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland before receiving her master’s in art museum and gallery studies from the University of Leicester in England. 

Kei is a graduate of Fordham University law school and has a job at a New York law firm.

Upon marrying him, Mako had to give up her place in the Imperial Family. 

All Japanese princesses relinquish their royal status upon marriage as there is only male succession. 

Female royals are forced to give up their status if they marry a commoner. Pictured: Princess Mako and her husband Kei Komuro in a press conference to announce their marriage in 2021

Other princesses have married commoners and left the palace. But the reaction to Kei and Mako was especially frenzied, much of it focusing on whether he would be able to support his wife.

Mako’s uncle Emperor Naruhito also married a commoner, Harvard graduate Masako, who suffered from depression in the cloistered imperial life. 

Former Emperor Akihito, Naruhito’s father, was the first member of the imperial family to marry a commoner.

The family holds no political power but serves as a symbol of the nation, attending ceremonial events and visiting disaster zones.

The Japanese Royal Family is facing an ongoing crisis – and has openly admitted it is ‘running out’ of heirs. 

Japan’s strict laws of succession forbid women from ascending to the Chrysanthemum Throne and force them to give up their titles if they marry commoners.

Meanwhile, many of the royal family are ageing – with eight members over 60, while only four members of the family are male. 

In June last year, Emperor Naruhito made a rare comment about the crisis facing the imperial household. 

Japan’s Princess Mako, the first daughter of Prince Akishino and Princess Kiko, in full dress leaves the Imperial Palace in Tokyo after meeting with the emperor and empress on October 23, 2011

He said: ‘The number of male members of the imperial family is decreasing, they are ageing, and female members of the imperial family leave the imperial family upon marriage.’

If the marriage was to a prince, they could stay within the family – the trouble is that there are no fellow male royals for them to wed.  

‘Due to these factors, the number of members of the imperial family who can take on public duties is decreasing compared to before,’ he continued. 

‘This is a problem that relates to the future of the imperial family, but I would like to refrain from commenting on matters related to the [legal] system.’

His comments made for a rare insight into the royal dynasty, as emperors have avoided discussing items of political importance since Japan’s defeat in the Second World War.  

The slimmed down state of the Japanese monarchy is partly due to male primogeniture rules, meaning only male members of the royal family can succeed the throne.