What is the definition of "commoner" here? Is it an interlinked group of families that the royals must choose their spouses from? If even a princess can become a commoner by marrying outside the group then it seems like it must be fairly inbred. Unless, maybe males can marry commoner women without problem?
Kind of typical for the BBC to carry this story without making note of the obvious insanity of such things, since the UK has it's own equally ridiculous system.
Im not sure why there is confusion here. A commoner is any common person who is not royalty. As such she is choosing to marry a non-royal and as such loses her status as a royal.
It would be interesting if this meant she was allowed to express political views and she then campaigned to reform (or maybe end) the Imperial system. I know the Emperor is forbidden from politics, but I don't know if that applies to the entire family. It seems like a lot of ridiculously Byzantine nonsense surrounding what is an entirely ceremonial position at this point.
They almost considered changing the succession laws to allow women to ascend the throne but shelved the effort when a male heir (Hisahito) was born (crisis averted I guess.) So what, really, is there to "royal status?"
What were even her options to marry? Marrying somebody in a royal family from another country? European monarchs did that for a while, but it doesn't seem in the spirit of Japanese nationalism. Or does she have to marry within her own family?
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[ 2.8 ms ] story [ 31.3 ms ] threadKind of typical for the BBC to carry this story without making note of the obvious insanity of such things, since the UK has it's own equally ridiculous system.
They almost considered changing the succession laws to allow women to ascend the throne but shelved the effort when a male heir (Hisahito) was born (crisis averted I guess.) So what, really, is there to "royal status?"