Is there a Japanese who married a royal? Past achievements and Japan’s relationship with foreign royal families are introduced.

When researching about the Imperial Family and the Royal Family, there is one thing that suddenly comes to my attention. That is the question of whether any Japanese have married into foreign royal families.

Within the same country, there are often Cinderella stories of people marrying into the royal or imperial families, and there are in fact many such cases.

But you don’t hear many stories about marrying into the royal family across the border….

In this article, we will introduce Japanese who married royalty.

Is there a Japanese who married a royal?

In fact, there are many Japanese who have married into foreign royal families, just not that widely known.

Each marriage has its own background and meaning, which can be love or a sign of friendship between the two countries.

Although international marriages are now widely recognized, some Japanese married royalty when the term “international marriage” did not exist.

One can imagine that there are many barriers to a cross-country marriage, but when it comes to royalty, there must have been many difficulties in terms of customs, traditions, and so on.

In the midst of difficulties, what kind of lives have Japanese people married to royalty led and what kind of relationships have they built with Japan?

In this issue, we will explore the question.

Introduction to the achievements of marriages with royalty in various countries.

So, who actually married royalty? Here we will look at the actual marriages to royalty in various countries.

Ms. Mandela married into a former royal family in Ubud.

Ubud is a village located on the mountain side of Bali. It is also known as the “center of Balinese culture,” and the number of Japanese tourists is increasing due to its breathtaking natural beauty.

The Royal Pita Maha, built overlooking the valley, is a resort hotel that cherishes the traditions of the royal family. In fact, this hotel has been managed by the descendants of the Ubud royal family for generations.

Keiko Mandela married there. She is from Aichi Prefecture and has a background of working at an art college.

In 1984, when she accompanied the president of the university to restore archaeological sites in Java at his request, her husband’s father misoed her and made a strong appeal for her to become his son-in-law.

At first, I had no intention of taking the approach because I was more attracted to Paris than to Bali.

However, as I gradually learned about the husband’s personality and the charm of Balinese traditions, I became more receptive to the approach.

Her husband is a former royal family member of Ubud and was the head of a singing and dancing troupe performing traditional Balinese dances founded by his ancestors.

He was impressed and interested in the way they were eagerly trying to carry on the tradition of Balinese dance.

However, Keiko Mandela’s parents were vehemently opposed to this marriage. This is because Keiko Mandela’s parents were very strict and respected old customs.

During the period of opposition to their marriage, Keiko Mandela and her husband were nurturing their love through correspondence in Japan and Bali.

In the midst of all this, her husband came to Japan and met Keiko Mandela’s parents. Understanding his personality and deep love and faith in Japanese culture, his parents finally gave their permission for the marriage.

Thus, the two were finally married in 1988. Today, Keiko Mandela is the coordinator of “Royal Pitamaha.

He is still living in Bali with his delicate Japanese sense of style, while carefully preserving the royal customs and Balinese traditions of Ubud.

Woman and daughter married to the King of Oman

The Sultanate of Oman is a country facing the Arabian Sea and located in the lower part of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. It is an absolute monarchy, and you don’t have an image that there is any interaction with Japan.

However, in 1935, the King of Oman visited Japan, where he had a fateful encounter with a Japanese woman.

The then King of Oman often made secret trips around the world, hiding his identity. One of these countries was Japan.

The King of Oman visited Japan and went to a dance hall in Kobe. During his visit, he was struck by a woman dancing in a dance hall.

That was Kiyoko Oyama, whom he would later marry. She was 19 years old at the time, while the King of Oman was nearly 40 years old at the time.

She was very confused by the King of Oman’s ardent appeal, but gradually opened her heart to his enthusiasm, and the two fell strongly in love with each other.

However, Kiyoko’s parents were vehemently opposed to the marriage.

Because in Arab countries, polygamy is practiced, he already had six wives and six children, and he was anxious about international marriage.

Your parents then pronounce certain conditions to the King of Oman.

If you want to marry my daughter, you must live in Japan.”

The King of Oman was very worried. He was the King of Oman and the monarch of his country.

Ultimately, however, he chooses to abandon his position as king and live with Kiyoko.

In fact, he did not tell his parents or Kiyoko that he was the King until several years after their marriage. It can be seen that he had very strong feelings and love for her.

After a year of preparation he officially moved to Japan and married Kiyoko. They built a splendid mansion in Kobe and lived a wealthy life together.

After a year of happy marriage, a daughter was born to them. She was named Setsuko.

However, their marriage did not last long, and while the King of Oman was temporarily back in the country, Kiyoko-san became ill and did not return home. He was said to have been very saddened by her death.

In 1939, the King of Oman took his beloved daughter, Setsuko, to Oman to give her royal estate.

Unfortunately, however, the “Greater East Asia War ” broke out there. Oman, with its strong ties to Great Britain, became an enemy of Japan and could not easily return to Japan.

Concerned for her safety, the King of Oman granted Setsuko the right to inherit the royal family.

However, when the Pacific War ended, the King of Oman also did not return, and Setsuko was taken in by the royal family.

This is how Setsuko became royalty in Oman and was named Queen Busaina. It is a very rare circumstance for a person of mixed Japanese descent to become royalty.

Setsuko finally landed back on Japanese soil 40 years after Kiyoko’s death. We can only hope that the sad situation of war will never happen again.

A woman married to Lee Eun, Joseon

Yi Eun was the last crown prince of the Yi Kingdom of Joseon. A woman of the royal family married there. Her name was Masako Lee.

She was born in 1901, the eldest daughter of King Morimasa Nashimoto and Princess Itsuko.

When she was 15 years old, she was browsing through a newspaper and learned that she was engaged to be married to Lee Un, the Crown Prince of Joseon.

He was very shocked, wishing he had at least known about it before it appeared in the newspaper.

The purpose of this engagement decision was a forced marriage from a political perspective, to be a “bridge between Japan and Korea” and a “cornerstone of reconciliation between Japan and Korea.

But she was strong enough to accept her fate and marry Yi Eun.

They did not oppose it and were strongly committed to building a warm family by changing their hair style to that of the Korean style. Thus, a wedding ceremony was held in 1920.

Although it was a political marriage, the two loved each other and supported each other in life.

Although his life was filled with many hardships due to the difficult historical and political times between Japan and Korea, he contributed much to welfare programs in Korea after Lee Un’s death.

She traveled back and forth between Japan and Korea more than 100 times to collect donations, and in her later years became a respected woman in Korea.

After his death, he was given a quasi-national funeral in Korea and is mourned by many Koreans.

She has become so great in Korea that she is now invariably named as a woman to look up to.

She was definitely a “bridge between Japan and Korea” and a “cornerstone of reconciliation between Japan and Korea.

There are many royal marriages across countries, even among non-Japanese.

Although we have introduced examples of Japanese marrying abroad, there are many non-Japanese members of the royal family who have married internationally.

Meghan, Duchess of Sussex

Many of you may know about Princess Meghan.

Born in the U.S., she has worked as an actress, and was a standout in the 2011 drama “Suits,” in which she played the role of Rachel.

In 2011, Meghan married the president of a film production company, but they divorced two years later; in 2016, Meghan and Prince Henry met through a mutual friend.

They kept in touch even after returning to Japan, and they were in a serious relationship with each other, taking time off from work to travel to the UK.

A year later, they announced their engagement and married in 2018. The wedding parade drew 120,000 people.

Since then, the couple’s amicable relationship has often been featured in the media, and people around them have often said that it is an extension of the honeymoon period.

However, he and Prince Henry are leaving the British Royal Family in 2020, and we will continue to keep an eye on them.

Alexandra of Denmark

Alexandra of Denmark was an English queen from Denmark. She was born into a prominent family, but was never wealthy and lived a life of making her own clothes.

However, her parents were of Danish royalty, and her father was elected the next king of Denmark because there was no heir at the time.

From here, life as royalty began. Thus, she grew up to be so lovely that she was offered marriage proposals from all over Europe as a beautiful princess.

At that time in England, Queen Victoria, the mother of the troubled King Edward VII, was eager to “get him married as soon as possible” in order to stop him from playing with women.

Alexandra of Denmark was recommended there.

She did not have good feelings about this matchmaking, but when they met in person, they hit it off, and talks of marriage proceeded.

After overcoming a series of misfortunes, including the scandal of Edward VII and the death of Edward VII’s father, the two were married.

Alexandra of Denmark then spent more than 60 years in the United Kingdom, where she left behind a varied list of accomplishments.

Can civilians and royalty marry?

As times change dramatically, royal and imperial customs are also changing a bit. 100 years ago, many countries would have categorically forbidden marriages between different statuses.

For this reason, there were no cases of Japanese marrying royalty as described above, nor were there any civilians marrying royalty across national borders.

If it was a royal marriage, the partner had to be royal as well, although the degree of this varied from country to country.

Even if a person was a nobleman of high rank, if his status was slightly different, he would not be recognized.

However, over time, marriages between civilians and royalty have become permissible.

Of course, as we have shown, many of us have had to confront various difficulties.

Still, this is a free time in which any marriage that overcomes those difficulties will be warmly cheered by the private sector.

Today, royalty is always accompanied by paparazzi, and even the slightest scandal is widely reported.

However, I still feel that when it comes to loving others, we should be free to do so as long as the person in question is genuine in his/her feelings.

Marriage Rules in the British Royal Family

In fact, of all the royal families in the world, the British Royal Family is particularly famous for its many rules regarding marriage. Here are some of the rules regarding marriage in the British Royal Family.

Civilians can get married.

In the British Royal Family, even civilians can marry, like the aforementioned Princess Meghan. However, in order to do so, permission must be granted by the King and Queen.

If permission is not granted, marriage in the royal family is not permitted, and the couple must either leave the royal family or give up the marriage.

Approval of marriage is required only for the sixth in line of succession to the throne.

Marriage does not necessarily make you king or queen.

In the British royal family, marriage does not necessarily make one king or queen.

In the case of Queen Elizabeth, her husband, His Royal Highness Prince Philip, did not hold the title of King. This is because he was a Greek.

The former William III and Mary II were co-rulers, and both of them ascended to the throne, but this is an exception.

The title of king/queen applies only to those who have “inherited the crown “.

The British Royal Family and the Japanese Imperial Family are closely related.

Did you know that the British Royal Family and the Japanese Imperial Family are closely related? They have a deep friendship and are close to each other, attending each other’s various events.

1940 Exchange of congratulatory telegrams

In 1940, Emperor Showa, the Japanese Imperial Family, and King George, the British Royal Family, had corresponded on multiple occasions and were in close contact until just before the outbreak of war.

It is known that they exchanged several telegrams, including congratulatory telegrams for the 2600th anniversary of the Emperor’s reign and the marriage of Princess Mikasa, and telegrams of condolence for the passing of Emperor Showa’s aunt, Princess Tsunehisa Masako, the Princess’s mother.

1971: Emperor Showa visits the U.K.

In 1971, Emperor Showa visited England for the first time in half a century.

The two countries had been enemies during World War II and were in a tense situation, but Queen Elizabeth saved the day with the following words.

We can’t say that our relationship has always been peaceful and friendly, but our past experiences help us resolve that such misfortunes should never happen again.”

In 1975, Queen Elizabeth II visited Japan, and it can be said that friendly relations continue to this day.

2015 Prince William’s visit to Japan

In 2015, Prince William visited Japan. The current Emperor and Queen invited Prince William for lunch and they dined together in a friendly atmosphere.

During his stay in Japan, Prince William returned to Japan after having completed his official duties, such as learning about the various histories of Japan and introducing British technology.

Supported by their repeated involvement with each other, the Japanese Imperial Family and the British Royal Family continue to have a kinship to this day.

Aspects of the relationship have been restored through exchanges between royalty and the royal family.

Until the end of the Second World War in 1945, Japan was at war with various countries. Therefore, even today, when the war is over, feelings for each other still smolder in the hearts of many people.

Hence, many people do not have good feelings about the interaction between royalty and the royal family.

In fact, when the emperor visited the United Kingdom in 1998, there was opposition from former military personnel who had been prisoners of war in the former Japanese army.

Protests were underway and the mood was not welcoming. During his visit to the United Kingdom, the superior mentioned the war again, expressing his feelings about the past and his gratitude for the connections he has made today.

Queen Elizabeth has also called for valuing the current ties between the two countries, as mentioned above.

This attitude has been passed on to the next generation, and it can be said that the relationship between the two countries has been restored, led by these exchanges.

To learn more about the relationship between the royal families of each country, click here.

How about the Japanese who overcame many barriers to marry internationally and the relationship between foreign royal families and Japan?

We hope you have learned that, despite the hardships of past wars, various exchanges are taking place to build friendly relations in the present day.

If you would like to learn more about the royalty of each country, please visit another article on our website.

In addition to the British royal family discussed in this issue, we also cover the royal families of France, Greece, Denmark, Saudi Arabia, and many other countries.

Please take a look.