How similar are Mako and Kei Komuro to Meghan and Prince Harry?

Meghan and Harry had a lavish wedding, gave that bombshell Oprah Winfrey interview and moved into a luxurious US$13 million mansion in Montecito, California

But Princess Mako and Kei Komuro will give up the Imperial Household’s Akasaka Palace for a one bedroom New York flat, and are likely to vanish from the public eye.

Princess Mako married her university sweetheart, Kei Komuro, on October 26 – and in doing so renounced her royal title.
The move was seen by some as controversial and even led to protests on the streets of Tokyo. Japanese publications including Japan Times and Aera began comparing Mako and Komuro to a certain former working royal couple: Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.
But similarities between the couples are arguably few and far between. Let’s take a look …

Both couples have a complicated relationship with the press

Just after Mako and Komuro announced their engagement in 2017, reports that his mother was involved in a financial dispute led the Imperial Royal Household to put the wedding on hold, according to a 2018 article in The Times. Citing a report by the news magazine Shukan Shincho, the paper said Komuro’s mother owed 4.3 million yen, or close to US$38,000, to a businessman for a loan repayment.

Following the dispute, Komuro was seen by many as a “gold digger”, according to The New York Times.

Speaking at the press conference after they married, Mako said “arbitrary criticism” and “incorrect” reporting about her husband made her feel “great fear, stress and sadness”, Reuters reported. Her comments came weeks after the Imperial Household Agency announced she had been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) due to media speculation in the lead-up to her wedding.
Similarly, the Duke and Duchess of Susse**x have spoken out about how they have been treated by the British tabloid media, though unlike Mako and Komuro, they have gone a step further and taken some media outlets to court.