Prince Mikasa (三笠宮崇仁親王, Mikasa-no-miya Takahito Shinnō?, born 2 December 1915) is a member of the Imperial House of Japan. He is the fourth and youngest son of Emperor Taishō and Empress Teimei, and is the only surviving paternal uncle of Emperor Akihito. His eldest brother was Emperor Shōwa (Hirohito). With the death of his sister-in-law, Princess Takamatsu (Kikuko), on 17 December 2004, he became the oldest living member of the Imperial House of Japan. After serving as a junior cavalry officer in the Japanese Imperial Army during World War II, the prince embarked upon a postwar career as a scholar and part-time lecturer in Middle Eastern studies and Semitic languages.
Read more about Prince Mikasa: Early Life, Marriage, Post-war Career, Titles and Styles, Issue, Ancestry
Famous quotes containing the word prince:
“A prince must be prudent enough to know how to escape the bad reputation of those vices that would lose the state for him, and must protect himself from those that will not lose it for him, if this is possible; but if he cannot, he need not concern himself unduly if he ignores these less serious vices.”
—Niccolò Machiavelli (1469–1527)