Marriage and Issue
The Prince pursued and eventually proposed (reportedly twice) to the then 29-year-old Masako Owada, a diplomat in the Japanese Foreign Ministry working under her father Hisashi Owada who is currently a judge on the International Court of Justice, former vice minister for foreign affairs and former Japanese ambassador to the United Nations. The Imperial Palace announced their engagement on 19 January 1993.
On 9 June 1993, The Crown Prince of Japan and Masako Owada were married at the Imperial Shinto Hall in Tokyo before 800 invited guests and an estimated media audience of 500 million people around the world. Many of Europe's crowned heads attended. So, too, did most of Europe's elected heads of state. The couple make their home at the Tōgū Palace, on the Akasaka Estate in Minato, Tokyo.
The Crown Prince and Crown Princess have one daughter from their marriage:
Aiko, Princess Toshi (敬宮愛子内親王, Toshi-no-miya Aiko Naishinnō?, born 1 December 2001)
Read more about this topic: Crown Prince Naruhito
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‘Twas pleasure first made it an oath.”
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