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Japan’s Princess Mako Will Leave The Royal Family To Marry University Boyfriend

The Emperor has officially approved the match

It’s a love story Disney would kill to get their hands on: a Japanese princess relinquishes her crown to marry her one true love.

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It’s a romance that’s playing out in real life in Japan right now, with 25-year-old Princess Mako, granddaughter of Emperor Akihito, officially announcing she will renounce her royal title to marry law student Kei Komuro.

News of the couple’s engagement went public in May 2017, but they waited until this week to speak to media, after the Emperor formally approved the match in a ceremony on Sunday, The Japan Times reports.

At the news conference, Princess Mako described how she was initially attracted to Komuro’s “bright smiles like the sun.”

Komuro’s perfect response? That his fiancé “has been quietly watching over me like the moon.”

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princess mako kei komuro
Kei Komuro and Princess Mako (Credit: Getty)

He told the press he “would like to have a family that is always calm and peaceful,” while Princess Mako described a family life that she hoped would be “warm, comfortable and filled with smiles.”

The Princess and Komuro met five years ago while studying at Tokyo’s International Christian University. Details of their wedding are being kept under wraps, with palace officials telling press that it will take place next year.

Japanese imperial law demands that royalty must give up their titles if they wish to marry outside the aristocracy. Princess Mako isn’t the first to do so – her aunt Sayako gave up the crown to marry a town planner in 2005.

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