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:
“The prince in disguise makes the most charming beggar in the world, no doubt; but that is because—as all fairy-tales from the beginning of time have taught us—the prince wears his rags as if they were purple. And, to do that, he not only must once have worn purple, but must never forget the purple that he has worn. And to the argument that all cannot wear purple, I can ... only reply that that seems to me to be no reason why all should wear rags.”
—Katharine Fullerton Gerould (1879–1944)