Crown Prince Naruhito & Crown Princess Masako: Current Events

[Amina]

Originally Posted by Emily

My first thought is that they might be going abroad to avoid all the publicity around Kiko's anticipated delivery. Even though the press say September, I have always wondered if it might not be earlier. However, the press release does say the Queen issued the invitation over a year ago, so maybe the vacation really has nothing to do with the delivery date. What do others think? I also wonder will they will be staying -- if the Queen has invited them, do you think it will be one of the Palaces? I was reading about Dutch palaces yesterday and Sos....(however you spell the rest) sounds like it might be the most private -- do you think they will close it to the public and let N and M stay there?

I agree it could be the IHA wanting the couple out of the country so as not to 'overshadow' the birth of PKiko's child. Afterall can u imagine the headlines if the child is a boy. The press would not just focus on the child but also CP Masako and all she's been through. Just my thoughts.

I read in the link that Zarat posted from Hello magazine's website that the princess was going to help her in her recovery, but that the couple are breaking with tradition by holidaying abroad in the summer and i doubt that the IHA would allow them to do that unless they wanted them out of the country for some reason.

[mandyy]

LEAD: Parachuting comedian lands at crown prince's residence by mistake
A comedian who was parachuting for the shooting of a television quiz program and his instructor were blown off course by strong winds and landed within the Akasaka Goyochi residential quarters of Crown Prince Naruhito and Crown Princess Masako in Tokyo's Minato Ward on Sunday afternoon, police said....................
http://asia.news.yahoo.com/060702/kyodo/d8ijred00.html

[Emily]

Well -- surprise, surprise for them!!

[tosca_van_oranje]

Do you think its a boy the new baby?

ik hope so that it is a girl girlpower!!

[CrownPrinceLorenzo]

It Needs To Be A Girl! I Hope It's A Girl!!!!

Long Live Aiko Tenno!!

[tosca_van_oranje]

does anybody have inside information? do you think that Crown Prince Naruhito and Crown Princess Masako will ever get another child?

i just wish them al the best

[CrownPrinceLorenzo]

Masako has trouble bearing. So I don't think they'll have another child.

[Elspeth]

There's a thread about the Akishino pregnancy here if people want to discuss it.

[Opal]

Originally Posted by Emily

To have been pressured into this marriage ("to save face for her family") and to have to give up her freedom of choice in everything from how to live her life to how she dresses to how she can travel, etc. -- in just everything -- would, I think, break the spirits of most of us who are used to such freedoms.

Was she really pressured to marry the Prince? I didn't realize this. I also had no idea she wasn't allowed to see her family. I don't understand why. That seems so cruel to keep someone away from their family... afterall people need family. Good grief, no wonder she had problems. :(

I'm glad she's taking this much needed vacation too. It was very nice of Queen Beatrix to extend an invitation although I'm sure it helped that her father is an important person in the Netherlands. But sometimes it pays to know people in high places, otherwise Masako probably would've never seen her family.

[Emily]

Well, I cannot know for sure that she was pressured, but I have read media accounts that she was. Apparently she turned down CPNaruhito's proposals of marriage on a couple of different occasions. According to differing reports, the current Empress talked with her to reassure her about joining the royal household and in another report I read that it became a matter of damaging the "honor" of her family to continue to refuse the CP. In this sense she was "pressured". Obviously I don't have first hand knowledge if any of this is true! Can anyone else add information?

[mandyy]

From Kunaicho
Prince Naruhito and Princess Masako met with UNICEF's head of the secretariat at Togu Palace on April 10, 2006.

[kimebear]

Originally Posted by Emily

Well, I cannot know for sure that she was pressured, but I have read media accounts that she was. Apparently she turned down CPNaruhito's proposals of marriage on a couple of different occasions. According to differing reports, the current Empress talked with her to reassure her about joining the royal household and in another report I read that it became a matter of damaging the "honor" of her family to continue to refuse the CP. In this sense she was "pressured". Obviously I don't have first hand knowledge if any of this is true! Can anyone else add information?

There has always been talk of her family pressuring her into the marriage. Immediately following the wedding, her father was given a much higher position in his employment. It was also rumored that P. Naruhito refused to marry anyone else, so the Imperial couple had a hand in convincing her as well. The same goes for a divorce. Not only would she lose her daughter in a divorce, but her family would be "shamed" by the action, so she really is stuck for life.

[laduchesse]

Originally Posted by CrownPrinceLorenzo

Masako has trouble bearing. So I don't think they'll have another child.

I'm not very familiar with Japanese culture and, more specifically, Japense imperial protocols, etc., but would surrogacy ever be an option for CP Naruhito & CP Masako? The baby would biologically be their child, but they'd be using another woman to carry the baby to term.

[monica17]

Originally Posted by laduchesse

I'm not very familiar with Japanese culture and, more specifically, Japense imperial protocols, etc., but would surrogacy ever be an option for CP Naruhito & CP Masako? The baby would biologically be their child, but they'd be using another woman to carry the baby to term.

That is a possibility but it seems to me that there are two hindrances to it at this point:
- Naruhito and Masako have "offended" the IHA a number of times so I don't see the IHA moving heaven and earth to accommodate the couple, especially since Akishino and Kiko are there as a last resort to produce a heir.
- Masako is still being treated for depression. The medication she takes, I assume, is not good for having a baby even with surrogacy. Unless Masako recovers very soon, I don't this option being carried out.

I wish a happy - and fair - ending to this all.

[TLLK]

Will they be meeting with members of the Dutch royal family while they're in the Netherlands? It would be nice to see them meet informally, so the couple can relax with their daughter.

[Mandy]

Time to close this thread. Thanks everyone for sharing your pictures, articles and opinions.

The new thread can be found here.