Tragedies That Shook Royal Families Around The World

Japanese Princess Masako Gave Up Everything and Never Recovered

Photo by Atsushi Tomura/Getty Images

In 1993, Crown Prince Naruhito of Japan went against the grain and married a commoner, Princess Masako. Masako was highly educated, having attended Harvard and Oxford, and carved out a career as a diplomat. Naruhito pursed her relentlessly, proposing three times before she finally accepted.

Masako gave up her career and largely disappeared from public view, and was subjected to stresses the public didn’t see. She was badgered to give birth to a son but gave birth to a daughter in 2001. Her husband admitted that his wife wasn’t coping well with the pressures of her new life. “It is true that there were moves to negate Masako’s career and her personality,” he confessed. In 2015 the palace released a formal statement confirming Masako had been suffering from “a stress-induced illness” for over 10 years.