Marriage and Family
The couple married on 10 April 1959. They have three children:
- HIH Crown Prince Naruhito, b. 23 February 1960;
- HIH Prince Akishino (Fumihito), b. 30 November 1965; and
- The former HIH Princess Nori (Sayako), b. 18 April 1969.
Crown Prince Akihito and Crown Princess Michiko again broke precedent by preferring to raise their children instead of entrusting them to the care of Court chamberlains; the Crown Princess even breastfed.
Upon the death of Emperor Hirohito on 7 January 1989, her husband became Japan's 125th Emperor and she became Empress Consort. The new Emperor and Empress were enthroned (Sokui Rei Seiden no Gi) at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo on 12 November 1990.
Having lost her voice for seven months during a nervous breakdown in the 1960s, the Empress again lost her voice for several months in the Fall of 1993.
Read more about this topic: Empress Michiko
Famous quotes containing the words marriage and/or family:
“Thrift, thrift, Horatio, the funeral baked meats
Did coldly furnish forth the marriage tables.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“I can only sign over everything,
the house, the dog, the ladders, the jewels,
the soul, the family tree, the mailbox.
Then I can sleep.
Maybe.”
—Anne Sexton (1928–1974)