Anglo-Japanese Royal Intermarriage

This made me think of....

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=VhQhZyNKqhM

Just watching Prince William in Japan. Dressed as a Samurai warrior. Apparently for a radio show. Donton Abi perhaps?

297* said:

I found a post from a few years ago discussing an Anglo-Japanese Royal Intermarriage in response to the formation of the Anglo-Japanese Alliance. I thought it was ASB but was curious about it. How well would it have gone? Would the Washington Naval Conference have ended the Anglo-Japanese Alliance if this marriage compelled them to remain allies? Would there be a Tripartite Pact between Nazi Germany and Japan?

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Its inconceivable that a member of the British Royal Family would marry a non Christian probably up until the 1980s/1990s at the absolute earliest, I believe there was a Christian branch of the extended Imperial Family in the early/mid 20th century but they were Catholic, so far from ideal

I suppose Prince Andrew or Prince Edward could have married Princess Sayako, the current Emperor's daughter. The wedding would be high profile and would probably result in some protests - the greatest probably from Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother who retained a loathing for the Japanese until her death and of course there would be protests on the streets by ex-British servicemen, a group of them still protest whenever the Emperor of Japan visits the UK.

Of course whether the ultra conservative IHA that controls the Imperial Family would allow one of their princesses to marry a non-Japanese man is questionable.

Hmmm... star crossed lovers from two powerful feuding families elope, leading to further tension & bloodshed. Sounds like the basis for a dramatic story. A stage or screen play perhaps.

Hhhmm

You need succifient political reasoning for such a marriage to occur. Which basically means both Japan and Britain are worse off than otl and need each other much more badly so as formalise an alliance through marriage. Perhaps no Anglo-French reconciliation with Britain threathen all around prior to ww1? Both sides then face a similar Franco-Russian threat? And a growing usa and Germany?

Religion would have been a very large factor. The fact that intermarriage with other European royal families had been going on for centuries (becoming customary and traditional), while nobody had done such a thing with Japan, is another factor. Plus, I can't help but wonder how the Japanese would've responded -- there might have been a bit of chauvinistic resistance on their side, too.

It's not quite ASB, but I'd have to consider it darn close.

We get more of this. (A little bit of the second bit is NSFW, not that you'd want your boss to catch you watching anime at work in any case.)

This is what I would call ASB territory. The British royals stuck to marrying other Protestant Royals and to a lesser extent British nobles for most of the 20th century. By the 1970s it became commonplace to allow the British royals to marry for love. This allowed commoners into the royal family. This was also the case in most other European royals. So unless a British royal falls in love with a member of the Japanese imperial family after the 1970s, I don't see such a match taking place.

Below are the marriages of the descendants of George V. Most were to British titled aristocrats and later in the 20th century to British commoners. Only a few were to foreigners.

1922 - Princess Mary marries Henry Charles George, Viscount Lascelles, elder son of the 5th Earl of Harewood.

1923 - Prince Albert, Duke of York marries Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, granddaughter of the 14th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne.

1934 - Prince George, Duke of Kent marries Princess Marina of Greece and Denmark.

1935 - Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester marries Lady Alice, daughter of the 7th Duke of Buccleuch and Queensberry.

1937 - Edward, Duke of Windsor marries American divorcee Wallis Simpson. He had been forced to abdicate the throne in 1936, rather than marry for love.

1949 - George Lascelles, 7th Earl of Harewood married Marion Stein, a commoner of Austro-Jewish ancestry.

1952 - Gerald David Lascelles married Angela Dowding, daughter of a commoner.

1960 - Princess Margaret married a commoner, Anthony Armstrong-Jones, the Queen giving him the title of Earl of Snowdon.

1961 - Prince Edward of Kent marries Katharine Worsley, daughter of Sir William Arthrington Worsley, 4th Baronet.

1963 - Princess Alexandra of Kent marries Sir Angus James Bruce Ogilvy, son of the 12th Earl of Airlie.

1972 - Prince Richard, Duke of Gloucester married Birgitte van Deurs, daughter of a Danish commoner.

1973 - Princess Anne marries Captain Mark Philips, a commoner.

1978 - Prince Michael of Kent marries Baroness Marie-Christine von Reibnitz, daugther of Baron Gunther Hubertus von Reibnitz. Becaue the Baroness is Catholic, this marriage leads to Prince Michael's forfeiture to his rights to the British throne due to the Act of Settlement in 1701. Their children however, retain the rights since they were brought up in the Church of England.

1981 - Prince Charles, Prince of Wales married Lady Diana Spencer, daughter of the 8th Earl of Spencer.

1986 - Prince Andrew, Duke of York married Sarah Ferguson, a commoner.

1988 - James Ogilvy married Julia Rawlinson, a commoner.

1988 - George Windsor, Earl of St. Andrews married Catholic divorcée Sylvana Tomaselli. Their three children were raised Catholic, removing them from the lines of succession.

1990 - Marina Ogilvy married Paul Mowatt, a commoner.

1992 - Lady Helen Windsor married Timothy Verner Taylor, a commoner.

1992 - Princess Anne, Princess Royal married Sir Timothy Lawrence, a commoner.

1993 - David Armstrong-Jones, Viscount Linley marries Serena Stanhope, a commoner.

1994 - Lady Sarah Armstrong-Jones marries Daniel Chatto, a commoner.

1999 - Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex, married Sophie-Rhys-Jones a commoner.

2005 - Prince Charles, Prince of Wales, marries Camilla Parker Bowles, a commoner.

2006 - Lord Nicholas Windsor married Paola Doimi de Lupis de Frankopan, daugther of Louis, Prince de Frankopan, Count Doimi de Lupis. Lord Nicholas converted to Roman Catholicism in 2001, forfeiting his rights to the British throne. In addition, his wedding took place in the Vatican.

2009 - Lord Frederick Windsor marries Sophie Winkelman, a commoner.

2011 - Prince William, Duke of Cambridge marries Catherine Middleton, a commoner.

2011 - Zara Philips marries Mike Tindall, a commoner.

2012 - Peter Philips marries Autumn Kelly, a Canadian-born commoner.

Viriato said:

-snip-

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I think you missed one.



Maybe her dad would do? Say, during the First World War, he's sent to the Far East to keep him well away from any German battleships that might kill him, and to attend any functions with the Japanese royal family. While there he meets a girl in the family, they hit it off, and when the war's over he asks to marry her. As he's only the second-in-line to the throne, and nobody's expecting anything bad to happen to Edward, he's allowed to marry her.

Depending on how the marriage affects anglo-japanese relations, we might end up with Britain seeing 'the Japanese' as both its enemy and Queen Maybe it wouldn't be quite as easy as that, but it isn't completely impossible.

Drunkrobot said:

I think you missed one.

Maybe her dad would do? Say, during the First World War, he's sent to the Far East to keep him well away from any German battleships that might kill him, and to attend any functions with the Japanese royal family. While there he meets a girl in the family, they hit it off, and when the war's over he asks to marry her. As he's only the second-in-line to the throne, and nobody's expecting anything bad to happen to Edward, he's allowed to marry her.

Depending on how the marriage affects anglo-japanese relations, we might end up with Britain seeing 'the Japanese' as both its enemy and Queen Maybe it wouldn't be quite as easy as that, but it isn't completely impossible.

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Yes, I did fail to mention the most obvious, Princess Elizabeth's marriage to Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark in 1947. Keep in mind that even if the young Duke of York had gone to Japan during the war (very unlikely) as he was second-in-line to the throne, he would have only been 19 at the outbreak of the war. In addition, all of the Japanese princesses of marriageable age had been married by 1915, when Toshiko was married. There were some princesses of collateral branches of the family, such as Reiko Takeda (born 1913) but these were far too young.

In addition, keep in mind that during this period racism against non-whites ran high. Also, after WWI, dynastic alliances no longer occurred. The marriages between German, British and Russian royals had done little to prevent war between them. That is why I'd place this in ASB territory.

Well, in any case we could always have a royal couple from one or both families having another child that they didn't have IOTL, that would then go on to meet each other. Trouble with that is we have no idea of their personalities or what they would do aside from merely existing.

One possibility is a marriage between two members of the royal families that are exiles of one form or another.

My other idea would have to take place in the 1970s or later. Since it is a royal marriage, the marriage involves a Las Vegas wedding chapel and at least one Elvis impersonator.

Dilvish said:

One possibility is a marriage between two members of the royal families that are exiles of one form or another.

My other idea would have to take place in the 1970s or later. Since it is a royal marriage, the marriage involves a Las Vegas wedding chapel and at least one Elvis impersonator.

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Maybe Prince Harry parties too hard in Las Vegas and accidentally gets hitched to a Japanese royal. This would please the Rom-Com gods. Yes, this will please them greatly...

Is it possible for such a situation to arise earlier in history yhoguh? I was thinking something along the lines of a British royal getting married to a Japanese Princess while on a visit to Japan in the late 19th/ early 20th century. If the marriage isn't approved by their families, could they force an annulment or would the lovers be exiled from one or both royal families? Perhaps they live out their days in a country like Sweden, America or Switzerland?