What is the difference between the British Royal Family and the Japanese Imperial Family? We will explain in depth from the differences in their respective characteristics and systems.

The British Royal Family and the Japanese Imperial Family have much in common and are in close contact, so Japanese people are also very interested in the British Royal Family.

Both the King of the United Kingdom and the Emperor of Japan encourage their people as “symbols of the people” and deepen national solidarity through charitable activities and official duties to pass on traditional culture.

This article will introduce the history and characteristics of the British Royal Family and the Imperial Family respectively. You will become more and more familiar with the Royal Family and the Imperial Family.

What is the difference between the British Royal Family and the Japanese Imperial Family?

Compare the British Royal Family with the Japanese Imperial Family in terms of length of history, culture, politics, and private property.

The roots of the Emperor’s family are told in mythology as “descendants of the gods,” but the transition of the British royal family has a history of battles, including invasions and civil wars. It is also interesting to note that private property is very different.

Length of history

The Japanese Imperial Family was founded in 660 B.C. when Emperor Jinmu, grandson of Amaterasu, ascended to the throne. It is recorded in the Imperial Lineage Records kept by the Imperial Household Agency, and was recognized by Guinness World Records as the oldest royal family in the world.

In the early days, emperors were based on the descriptions in “Kojiki” and “Nihonshoki,” which include myths and legends, and their existence has been a matter of debate. Since the Danish royal family, ranked second in the world for the longest reign, was founded in the 10th century, the Japanese imperial family is still the longest reigning dynasty in the world.

The English royal family is said to have begun in 1066, the third year of the ranking. Guillaume II, Duke of Normandy, who had been granted the fief of France, invaded the Kingdom of England, opened the Norman dynasty, and became the founder of the royal family.

Guillaume II is pronounced William I in English style and is known as “William the Conqueror” in England. Successive heirs to the throne, including Queen Elizabeth and King Charles, have inherited the lineage.

culture

The “Utakaihajime no Ag o” is held every year in January, hosted by the Emperor, in which waka poems are composed and performed on a common theme. The public is invited to participate in the event by composing poems that have been selected from among those submitted by the general public.

Cormorant fishing on the Nagara River in Gifu is protected by the imperial family and is still introduced today when entertaining foreign dignitaries. In the Meiji period (1868-1912), when cormorant fishing was on the verge of extinction, cormorants were given the status of officials of the Ministry of the Imperial Household, and a imperial estate was established on the Nagara River.

The imperial family has also inherited many works of art. The Shosoin Repository at Todaiji Temple in Nara began in the 8th century when Empress Komyo, after the death of Emperor Shomu, donated her belongings to the temple, and over the next 200 years, Buddhist and other artifacts were collected.

These Shosoin treasures contain elements of Chinese, Indian, Roman, and Egyptian artifacts, and as the phrase “Shosoin is the end of the Silk Road” expresses, they are globally important materials.

One of the cultural traditions of the British royal family is Royal Ascot, a horse racing festival. It is held every June for five days under the auspices of the royal family and has a history of more than 300 years. The elegant fashions of the royal family members attract a lot of attention, and 300,000 people visit during the festival.

One animal-related event is an annual survey of the population in honor of the “Queen’s Swan” on the Thames, whose ownership was proclaimed by the Queen in the 12th century.

Also, in reference to a 17th century prophecy that the royal family would collapse if the ravens living in the Tower of London, a World Heritage Site, were lost, the royal staff protects them as “no more than six ravens”.

politics

His Majesty the Emperor and members of the Imperial Family are engaged in official duties such as visiting disaster-stricken areas to encourage the people, passing on traditional culture, and visiting foreign countries, but they do not make any political statements.

This is because the current Constitution of Japan stipulates that “the Emperor shall only perform acts related to national affairs as stipulated in this Constitution and shall have no authority over national affairs.

Under the prewar Constitution of the Empire of Japan, the Emperor had sovereignty (the right to make political decisions), but this was changed to national sovereignty under the current Constitution. The current Constitution was drafted under the leadership of GHQ after the war, based on the regret over the failure to stop the military’s outburst during the Pacific War.

In England, too, the king is a symbolic figure: “The king reigns but does not rule.

In the United Kingdom, the newly enthroned King recognized the supremacy of Parliament after the Revolution of Honor in 1689 and established the world’s first “constitutional monarchy,” which limited the rights of the monarch. Later, the cabinet replaced the monarch’s executive power, creating the foundation for democracy, including the parliamentary cabinet system.

private property

All imperial property became the property of the state after the war. They include the Imperial Palace, the Akasaka Imperial Palace, the Kyoto Imperial Palace, and the Shosoin Repository, which are used for the activities of the Imperial Family.

Each individual member of the Imperial Family receives an annual payment of the Imperial Family’s expenses, which is a cash personal property. A fixed amount is set by law, and in FY2022, a total of nearly 600 million yen was appropriated for 17 members of the Imperial Family, including His Majesty the Emperor.

On the other hand, real estate used by the British royal family, such as Buckingham Palace, the Duchy of Cornwall, and Balmoral Castle, is royal property. Including other assets, the royal family’s holdings are said to be worth as much as 4 trillion yen.

In addition, each member of the royal family has income from businesses and assets, the amount of which is made public each year. Expenditures from the state include royal grants, which benefit the state as well, as they receive 15-25% of the income generated by the Crown Estate, the real estate owned by the King.

The major difference is in the “succession system.

The most significant difference between this system and the Japanese system of emperor succession, as known to Queen Elizabeth of the United Kingdom, is the limitation of the gender of the emperor.

Article 2 of the Japanese Constitution stipulates that “The Imperial Throne shall be hereditary, and shall be succeeded to in accordance with the Imperial Household Law passed by the Diet. The Imperial Household Law is the law governing the Imperial Family and limits eligibility for succession to the Imperial Throne to males of the male line.

In other words, Prince His Imperial Eugene, a male lineage son, is the first person qualified to succeed to the Imperial Throne since his father, Prince Akishino. Aiko, a girl of the male line, is not qualified.

In the United Kingdom, the Succession to the Throne Act was amended in 2013, and the order of succession is now the direct descendants of the King, beginning with the eldest child, without distinction as to gender. Before the amendment, preference was given to male siblings, but the Queen was tolerated, as in the case of Queen Elizabeth.

The King of England will also be limited to Protestants. Before the law was amended, marriage to a Catholic disqualified a person from claiming the throne, but that provision has also been eliminated.

The royal family is called differently by the “Imperial Family” and the “Royal Family”.

Unlike the “Royal Family” of the British Royal Family, the English term for the Japanese Imperial Family is “Imperial Family.

Emperor” also means “emperor,” “king among kings,” or “the only god. The first instance of the word “emperor” being used is in a document sent to China by Prince Shotoku in the 7th century.

The character for “emperor” is derived from Chinese mythology, and Prince Shotoku had the intention of asserting that the king of Japan was equal to the emperor of China. Until then, China had given him the title of “King of Japan” and he was positioned as a vassal of the Chinese emperor.

The title of “Emperor” is legally defined by the Taiho Ritsuryo Code of 702. Emperors are of the same lineage for all generations up to the present day.

As of 2023, the Windsor dynasty of King Charles has taken over.

Characteristics of the British Royal Family

The British royal family has been active with the people, with each member of the royal family engaged in business or serving in the military in war zones. Their vast holdings are noteworthy. There are also some characteristics that are not well known.

Own numerous homes.

Queen Elizabeth and her husband alone moved between their residences and villas, including Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle, Balmoral Castle, and Sandrigham House, and members of the royal family have owned many mansions.

King Charles and his wife live at Clarence House, and Prince William and his family live at Kensington Palace. Anmer Hall was a gift from Queen Elizabeth to Prince William and his wife, who lived there for a while after their marriage.

Actually, he’s not British.

The foundation of England was laid by the Anglo-Saxons, but the founder of the English royal family was Duke Guillaume II of Normandy, who had a fief in France and was a Norman (northern Germanic).

The Hanoverian dynasty welcomed a king from Germany, and his descendant Queen Victoria, the high grandmother of Queen Elizabeth, married Albert, a prince of the German federal state. Their legitimate son, King Edward VII, married a Danish princess, and many other foreign spouses were also welcomed into the Hanoverian dynasty.

The current Windsor dynasty was the name of the German Confederation, which was renamed during World War I to avoid public animosity. Queen Elizabeth’s husband, His Royal Highness Prince Philip, was also a prince of Greece and Denmark.

The British royal family can be said to have a particularly close lineage with Germany.

Two names for the queen exist.

Queen Elizabeth, who died in 2022, is “Elizabeth II” because there was another Queen Elizabeth in the past. Elizabeth I was the queen who ascended the throne at the end of the 16th century, known as England’s Golden Age.

However, Elizabeth II is the name she inherited from her mother, Queen Elizabeth II. When Queen Elizabeth was alive and well, the people called her “Queen Mother” to distinguish her from Elizabeth II.

Characteristics of the Japanese Imperial Family

The activities of the Imperial Family make the news at every milestone, but there are many things you may not know or rediscover if you learn them anew.

Although the Emperor is not involved in politics, he plays a surprisingly large role in the Diet. Trivia about the lack of surnames in the Imperial Family and the origins of the long-standing issue of succession to the throne will also be introduced.

It is only a symbol.

The Constitution of Japan, enacted in 1947, describes the Emperor as “the symbol of Japan and of the unity of the Japanese people,” and stipulates that he shall not be involved in politics.

However, the Emperor does have a role in the Diet and diplomacy. These are acts of state, such as appointing the Prime Minister, promulgating laws and ordinances, convening the Diet, and announcing the general election of Diet members. These are done with the advice and approval of the Cabinet, and the Cabinet is responsible for them.

No last name.

The Emperor and members of the Imperial Family do not have surnames. The titles of the Imperial Family, such as Prince Akishino, Prince Hitachi, Prince Mikasa, and Prince Takamado, are personal titles of the head of the family called “Miyago-go” and are not the surnames of the people.

The surname system in Japan dates back to the ancient Yamato Kingdom, when the ancient Yamato Kingdom gave the family name and surname (kabane) to the great families and nobles. The Great King (later Emperor) was in charge of conferring family names and did not have a family name of his own.

It is also said that since the royal family continues from one family line, there is no need to distinguish it from others, and thus no surname exists.

The Imperial Family, including the Emperor, does not have a family register, and the record of their status and lineage is kept in a ledger called the “Imperial Lineage Records. Tracing the paternal line in the genealogical records leads to Emperor Jinmu, the first in the imperial line, and then to Amaterasu, the first in the line of succession.

Male lineage succession

According to the Imperial House Law, the law governing the Imperial Family, eligibility for succession to the throne is limited to males of the male line. There have been eight female emperors in history, all of whom were of male lineage.

For example, the last female emperor, Emperor Go-Sakuracho (reigned 1762-71), was the father of Emperor Sakuracho, who ascended the throne when his younger brother, Emperor Momoyono, died and his son (Emperor Go-Sakuracho’s nephew) was still young. He later abdicated to his nephew, Emperor Go-Momoen.

The rule of limiting the number of male lineage descendants was first clearly stated in the former Imperial Household Law of the Meiji Era. There is no need to change the Constitution, and female emperors can be permitted by amending the law.

Since there will be only one male descendant in the future, His Imperial Highness Prince Eugene, and it is expected to be difficult to maintain the Imperial Family, the acceptance of a female or matrilineal emperor has been considered. On the other hand, there is a proposal to reinstate male descendants of the former 11 Imperial Family, who left the Imperial Family during the postwar GHQ occupation, as members of the Imperial Family.

Do the British Royal Family and the Japanese Imperial Family have anything in common?

Under the same system of island nation, parliamentary cabinet system, andconstitutional monarchy, both the British Royal Family and the Japanese Imperial Family are respected by the people as “symbols of national unity” and have one thing in common: they are not involved in politics.

It could be said that the people of both countries are also more familiar with and interested in each other’s royal and imperial families.

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

The exchange between the British royal and imperial families has a history of more than 150 years since Prince Alfred, the second son of Queen Victoria, visited Japan.

It is known that there were exchanges of congratulatory and return telegrams between Emperor Showa and Queen Elizabeth’s father, King George VI. Furthermore, Emperor Showa went to England before the war when he was a crown prince and learned about constitutional government from King George V.

The postwar restoration of diplomatic relations between the United Kingdom and Japan was also guided by the exchange between Emperor Showa and Queen Elizabeth.

The current Emperor of Japan studied in England when he was Crown Prince and was received with great hospitality by Queen Elizabeth. His Imperial Highness Princess Aiko has also attended a summer school there.

The fact that the participation in the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II was the first overseas visit by Their Majesties the Emperor and Empress since their accession to the throne also showed the deep ties between the British Royal Family and the Imperial Family at this major milestone.

To learn more about the differences between the British Royal Family and the Japanese Imperial Family

We have introduced the characteristics, differences, and similarities between the British Royal Family and the Japanese Imperial Family. Both are beloved as “symbols of national unity.

In the United Kingdom, there is a history of the people’s struggle to win sovereignty from the absolute monarchy, and there is a trust that has been built up by the royal family and the people together, such as the military activities of Queen Elizabeth and other royal family members during World War II.

In Japan, the current postwar GHQ-led Constitution established a symbolic emperor system. However, it is clear from historical data that the Showa Emperors cared for the people before and after the war, and the presence of the Emperor and the Imperial Family continues to be a source of emotional support for the people.

Please read the many articles on this site about the British Royal Family and the Japanese Imperial Family.