Facts about the number of staff between the crown prince household and Prince Akishino's
Princely differences
By Wataru Kurihara
Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer
The newborn prince is third in line to the Imperial throne, but even so there i s still a noticeable difference in the number of staffers and level of medical s upport between the crown prince's household and that of the Akishino family. The Imperial Household Agency assigns officials to each of the princely h ouseholds, including the Akishino family, to assist family members. But the c rown prince's household is taken care of by the agency's own unit--the Office o f the Crown Prince's Household. The Akishino family is provided nine agency officials including a chamberlain f or the prince himself. The Office of the Crown Prince's Household, meanwhile, c omprises 51 staffers led by Grand Master Issei Nomura, formerly ambassador to R ussia. The number of staffers per family member before the new prince was born, e xcluding those privately hired, is 2.25 in the Akishino family, compared with 1 7 in the crown prince's household. The Office of the Crown Prince's Household has four full-time doctors, i ncluding the chief physician, who keep track of family members' health around t he clock. The Akishino family and other princely households are not allocated t heir own doctors, though as Prince Akishino has suffered a slight arrhythmia, t he agency has since October 2001 dispatched doctors from the Imperial HouseholdA gency Hospital to accompany the prince when he travels outside Tokyo on public d uties. When the crown prince and Princess Masako leave the palace, his chamberlains oro ther staffers always check in advance the sites to be visited. But as the Akishino family has fewer staff, visits by the prince and his familyh ave, at least until now, always taken place without such advance work.
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