Japan faces its own royal health crisis: Crown Princess Kiko cancels her duties due to gastrointestinal illness

While the British royal family is facing the challenges posed by ill health, Japan's imperial household is also facing a similar crisis.

Princess Kiko, 57, recently contracted a mysterious gastrointestinal illness. It was reported last month that she was 'unable to eat normal meals', and she remains on leave from royal duties.

Kiko's poor health has meant her husband, Crown Prince Akishino, 58, is only performing royal duties and cannot call on their daughter, Princess Mako, to help.

She was forced to relinquish her title and moved to New York after marrying a commoner, in echoes of Megxit.

Elsewhere, Emperor Naruhito's daughter, Princess Aiko, 22, has stepped up to fill the void and will host a lunch tomorrow for the Kenyan president and his wife after Kiko canceled due to her illness. NNN.

Concerns about Princess Kiko increased after news broke that she was suffering from a mysterious gastrointestinal illness.

The royal family has experienced painful symptoms related to the gastrointestinal tract, leaving her unable to eat normal meals.

Reportedly had an endoscopy at Tokyo hospital earlier this year, but no abnormalities were discovered.

The mother of three has been advised to “rest and focus on recovery,” she said The Mainichi.

Although doctors have advised Kiko to rest, they have suggested she may face painful symptoms in the coming months.

And yesterday it was reported by NNN news that Kiko had canceled an upcoming lunch with the Kenyan president and his wife due to her gastrointestinal illness.

That's why Kiko's niece, Princess Aiko, 22, steps up and organizes the dinner.

The event marks Aiko's debut at a luncheon with foreign guests and her first official dinner of this kind.

Princess Aiko, the eldest daughter of Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako, is expected to attend more official events in the future.

Elsewhere, in cases where Kiko is unable to attend events due to her ill health, it is believed her husband, Crown Prince Akishino, 58, will attend solo.

Akishino recently spoke out about the downsized state of Japan's monarchy due to male primogeniture rules, meaning only male members of the royal family can succeed to the throne.

In November last year, Akishino called for a review of official duties as members either leave due to their age or marry a commoner. Japanese times.

“It would be difficult to pass on (official duties) if the number of (imperial family members) decreases,” the crown prince told reporters in Tokyo.

The family has actually shrunk in recent times as female members have to relinquish their royal status if they choose to marry a commoner.

As it stands, the current total number of family members in the royal family is 17, of which 12 are women.

Princess Mako is the most recent example. In October 2021, she gave up her royal title to marry her commoner boyfriend, a move that has sharply divided public opinion.

Mako, the eldest daughter of Crown Prince Fumihito and niece of reigning Emperor Naruhito, married university sweetheart Kei Komuro, a commoner, in Tokyo after an eight-year engagement.

Japan's strict inheritance laws ban women from ascending to the Chrysanthemum Throne and force them to give up their titles if they marry commoners.

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

Her aunt and uncle, the reigning emperor and his wife, also enjoyed a parade through the streets of Tokyo on their wedding day.

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

Mako, formerly Princess of Akishino, who previously held a prominent position within the royal family, has now taken her husband's name and will be called Mako Komuro – the first time in her life that she has had a surname.

Mako and Komuro met in 2013 at Tokyo International Christian University and secretly got engaged before announcing their intention to get married in September 2017.

But the wedding was postponed following a financial scandal surrounding an unpaid debt allegedly owed to Kei's mother and suggestions he was marrying for money.

Ultimately, he said he would pay it back, although it is unknown whether the money was returned.

The dispute centers on whether the money his mother received from her former fiancé was a loan or a gift. Mako's father asked Komuro for clarification and he wrote a statement defending himself, but it is still unclear whether the dispute has been fully resolved.

In the wake of the scandal, he moved to the US to study law and recently graduated from Fordham University in New York, where he now works for a law firm.

As part of the wedding announcement, the royal household said Mako would forego all traditional ceremonies and forfeit a £1 million payment she was entitled to under Japanese tradition.

She is the first imperial family member since World War II to not receive payment while marrying a commoner, choosing to do so amid criticism of her marriage to a man some consider unsuitable for the princess.