A British woman whose family has had close connections to the imperial family described her "great honor" recently at having hosted a party for Emperor Naruhito, then a prince, while he was studying at Oxford University in 1984.
Lady Nadine Bonsor, 70, was asked by the Japanese Embassy to hold a traditional weekend house party for Prince Hiro — as the emperor was known at that time — at Liscombe House, the country estate of her husband's family, in Bedfordshire, just north of London.
Bonsor, whose husband Nicholas was a member of Parliament at the time, invited family and friends for the weekend at the Elizabethan manor house. The guests also paid a visit to nearby Althorp House to meet Lord Spencer, the father of Princess Diana, and his wife Raine.