Princess Masako to attend Brunei prince's wedding

Princess Masako to attend Brunei prince's wedding

Japan's Imperial Household Agency said on Monday that Crown
Princess Masako, who has been suffering from an adjustment
disorder, may attend the wedding ceremony of Brunei's Crown
Prince Al-Muhtadee Billah in September with her husband, Crown
Prince Naruhito.

The agency said it will decide soon if Masako will attend the
wedding ceremony of the Southeast Asian country's crown prince
after consulting with her doctors.

If it happens, it will be the first time since last December
that Princess Masako will have conducted official duties.

The 40-year-old princess has been out of the limelight for
eight months. The Imperial Household Agency had been relatively
quiet about her condition, although it did report that Masako was
suffering from shingles, triggered by stress and fatigue.

However, the conservative agency announced last month that the
princess's doctors had diagnosed Masako with anxiety and
depression, brought on by an adjustment disorder due to stress.

An adjustment disorder occurs when a person develops emotional
or behavioral symptoms in response to identifiable stress,
according to health experts.

The agency said Princess Masako "has faced stress caused by
her special status as crown princess, problems relating to her
pregnancy and miscarriage, and her busy life, in which she has
difficulties drawing a line between the public and the private."

Japanese public concern over Masako's illness has escalated
with murmurings of a possible divorce if she doesn't produce a
male heir to the throne.

After a miscarriage in 1999, the royal couple had their first
child in December 2001 -- a girl, Princess Aiko.

Current Japanese law does not allow women to assume the
throne.

Masako, a former foreign ministry diplomat, married into the
royal family as a commoner in 1993. --DPA

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GetDPA 1.10 -- AUG 16, 2004 14:34:04