European/Japan royal marriages

[monica17]

This is fairly recent..... a high-ranking member of the IHA said that if Princess Aiko studied abroad, falls in love with a blue-eyed foreigner and marries him, it will be a DISASTER. Of course, this statement is general, in the sense that it didn't say whether a blue-eyed foreigner prince is acceptable.

It certainly looks like inter-racial or marriage to a non-Japanese is taboo, or at least not the practice, for the imperial family.

[CrownPrinceLorenzo]

The IHA is full of *censored*!

If Princess Aiko is raised just like how the other Princes and Princesses have been raised, she will marry a Japanese man.

None of the Princes married a foreign women, none of the Princesses married foreign men. I mean, the Princesses would lose their titles anyway, yet they still married Japanese commoners.

[Elspeth]

Originally Posted by monica17

This is fairly recent..... a high-ranking member of the IHA said that if Princess Aiko studied abroad, falls in love with a blue-eyed foreigner and marries him, it will be a DISASTER. Of course, this statement is general, in the sense that it didn't say whether a blue-eyed foreigner prince is acceptable.

It certainly looks like inter-racial or marriage to a non-Japanese is taboo, or at least not the practice, for the imperial family.

This is so totally stupid. Why they seem to think this would be a danger for a crown princess but not a crown prince is one of those things that beggars belief.

[bbb]

i love this forem for all the interesting things u learn. thanks so much for the information.
from what little i know of the culture, it would never be permitted. i don't believe (the evil iha) will let PA out of Japan for her education, heaven forbid she end up like her mother (and not a robot to their rules)

[monica17]

Oh, sorry! That remark about the unacceptability of Aiko (as an empress) marrying a blue-eyed foreigner and having the son become emperor wasn't made by the IHA but a former trade minister and MP. He was yakking about racial purity. So, not the IHA but its ally, the conservatives.

I hope Aiko does get educated abroad. One of imperial princesses is studying in Scotland right now.

[mandyy]

Originally Posted by monica17

One of imperial princesses is studying in Scotland right now.

Yes, Princess Tsuguko of Takamado (the eldest daughter of Princess Hisako of Takamado) is currently studying at the University of Edinburgh.

[Hereditary Mapmaker]

As modern as Japan is in areas of fashion, electronics, technology, etc., this is one area where a greater portion of the rest of the world has seen evolution. Most of the Western European and even some of the Eastern cultures have experienced more cultural diversity, including interacial marriage among royal/noble families. Comments about who Princess Aiko may marry and the outcomes are steeped in that lack of evolution as well as a level of close-mindedness. In additon, the IHA may be experiencing resistance to a new situation. Even if the Russian princesses had married into the Japanese royal family and taken new names, titles, styles, religions, etc., historically, male royals didn't usually do so (until The Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Henrik, etc.) The idea that a Christian/Muslim/whatever man would change to the Shinto faith would be a new idea to the IHA. Could it happen? Sure. Anything is possible. Luckily for them, Prince Akishino & Princess Kiko have given a few months more to avoid the entire situation.

Mapper

[Elspeth]

I don't think it's just the religious aspect; when they were discussing the possible reform, the experts consulted included geneticists who were arguing that the male-line succession should continue because it's the only way to preserve the Y chromosome (which is passed pretty much intact from generation to generation of men, unlike most of the chromosomes). Other geneticists pointed out that the very intactness of the chromosome meant that it would be shared by many people who were no longer royal, and so the "imperial Y chromosome" really wasn't all that exclusive anyway.

[Gutsy]

It is currently Imperial House Law that any female of the Imperial House who marries thereby relinquishes her membership in the Imperial Family. We saw that in the former Princess Sayako's case recently. This way the size of the Imperial Family is limited as was the intention of the Occupation Authorities after WWII. The Japanese have no precedent of a "commoner" male marrying into the Imperial House.
As for a royal marriage involving a foreigner: e.g, an Imperial Prince marrying a foreign Royalty is would be a direct confrontation with the traditionally very strong Japanese notion of the Imperial Family being exclusively Japanese.

[foiegrass]

well, even if a japanese princess marries a European Prince.
Her status would be higher right?
I mean, HIH compared to HRH.

[Warren]

Originally Posted by foiegrass

well, even if a japanese princess marries a European Prince.
Her status would be higher right?
I mean, HIH compared to HRH.

Her style of Imperial Highness would be higher, but she would take the rank of her husband.
The style doesn't equate to the pecking order. Simple example: HSH Prince Albert of Monaco is higher in rank than HRH The Prince of Wales because Albert is a reigning monarch.

[Elspeth]

If a Japanese princess marries a European prince, she'd be HRH, not HIH, wouldn't she? As long as Japanese princesses cease to be members of the royal family once they marry, she'd no longer have her HIH. Sayako doesn't, so the wife of HRH Prince xxxx also wouldn't.

[sara1981]

i would agree with posts!

im sure Japanese Royals would getting married with nice girls or guys in area Japan,China,Korea,whatever cities hometown who born as native they can married into royals of Japanese Royals and approve of parents the Empress and emperor to getting dating they later married.

im sure little Princess Aiko will become good Empress one days after her grandmother and dad one days but she will go lots of school and switzerlands for finished school and maybe military school i think so.

[Marcus Aurelius]

Originally Posted by jacadenasso

Who knows? I guess it would, but it'd be the strangest marriage ever, not because of the races, but because both would be royals.

I disagree. George VI, the former Duke of York, was the first member of the British Royal Family to marry outside his immediate circle of friends and associates: George VI - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

His wife, Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, although an aristocrat, is not from a royal dynasty such as the Hapsburgs, Hohenzollern, and Saxe-Coburg and Gotha: Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Prior to this, the Prince of Wales and immediate members of the Royal Family would always marry a German prince or princess.

Given that this is the case, why do you suppose it be "strange" for members of different royal families to be married, unless of course, you happen to believe that race instead of class would be the real issue in this case?

[NGalitzine]

I think if a Japanese Princess were to marry a European prince it would be less of a problem if she married abroad and lived abroad. I don't think the Japanese would accept her marrying a non-Japanese and living in Japan. It would be a matter of race and not social class that would be the problem at home.
For a Japanese prince the idea of marrying a non-Japanese would be out of the question, especially since there are so few of them to begin with.
Any marriage to some one who is not pure Japanese would be troublesome and likely not allowed. Even with Masako her ancestry was checked to make sure she did not have any Korean bloodlines.

[kathia_sophia]

But Japan and Korea always had a tough relashionship to begin with, of course for an Heir even if its a foreign Princess, they will not allow the marriage, for them is out of question to have a future half-breed generation. As for the Princesses, I think at first it would be a "cultural/race shock" in the Japanese point of view if they were to marry a foreign Prince, but they would allow either way, because at least it was a Prince considering they lack Japanese Princes.

[Ish]

Originally Posted by Marcus Aurelius

I disagree. George VI, the former Duke of York, was the first member of the British Royal Family to marry outside his immediate circle of friends and associates: George VI - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

His wife, Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, although an aristocrat, is not from a royal dynasty such as the Hapsburgs, Hohenzollern, and Saxe-Coburg and Gotha: Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Prior to this, the Prince of Wales and immediate members of the Royal Family would always marry a German prince or princess.

Given that this is the case, why do you suppose it be "strange" for members of different royal families to be married, unless of course, you happen to believe that race instead of class would be the real issue in this case?

This is just wrong on many levels.

1. Royals before George VI did not marry inside an immediate circle of friends and associates. They married for dynastic reasons, typically to someone they had met infrequently before.

2. George VI was not the first member of the British Royal family to marry an aristocrat without a princely heritage. He was the first who would go on to become monarch, but younger children marrying British aristocrats has happened at least once a generation since the reign of George III.

3. British royals did not always marry Germans, just predominantly. In each generation since George I there have been one case of British royals marrying Greek, Danish, Norwegian, and/or Dutch royals.

4. The practice of predominantly marrying German royals ended with the children of Edward VII. Of his 3 children who married, George V married the British-born Mary of Teck (whose father was German and mother was a British Princess descended from George III), Louise, Princess Royal married a Scottish nobleman, Alexander Duff, 1st Duke of Fife, and Princess Maud married Haakon VII of Norway.

5. George VI was not the first of his siblings to marry. He married in 1923, but the year before hi sister, Mary, Princess Royal, married the British noble Henry Lascelles, 6th Earl of Harewood.

[Meraude]

Originally Posted by Marcus Aurelius

I disagree. George VI, the former Duke of York, was the first member of the British Royal Family to marry outside his immediate circle of friends and associates

Prior to this, the Prince of Wales and immediate members of the Royal Family would always marry a German prince or princess.

King James II of England, Scotland and Ireland was married to Anne Hyde in his first marriage, and both their daughters became queens of England, and their younger daughter was the first queen of Great Britain.

In 1793 Augustus Frederick, duke of Sussex, a younger son of George III, married lady Augusta Murray.

And when it comes to a prince of Wales, the future George IV married unlawfully Maria Fitzherbert in 1785.