The Imperial Household Agency said Tuesday that the formal engagement and marriage of Princess Mako — the eldest granddaughter of Emperor Akihito — and her fiance, Kei Komuro, will be postponed until 2020 due to "lack of preparation."
The couple, both 26, were supposed to be formally engaged in a traditional court ceremony called Nosai no Gi on March 4, ahead of their planned wedding on Nov. 4. The princess said through the agency she "came to recognize the lack of time to make sufficient preparations."
The agency denied any link between the postponement and a recent weekly magazine report of a financial dispute — between Komuro's mother and her former fiance — over her son's education expenses of about ¥4 million, which were reportedly shouldered by the mother's former partner.