Naruhito
Early life
Naruhito was born on 23 February 1960 at 4:15 p.m. in the Imperial Household Agency Hospital in Tokyo Imperial Palace. As a prince, he later quipped, "I was born in a barn inside the moat". His mother is a convert to Shinto from Roman Catholicism. Before Naruhito's birth, the announcement of the then Crown Prince Akihito's engagement and marriage to Michiko Shōda (later Empress Michiko) had drawn opposition from traditionalist groups, because Michiko came from a Roman Catholic family. Although she was never baptized, she was educated in Catholic schools and seemed to share the faith of her parents. Rumors also speculated that Empress Kōjun had opposed the engagement. After the death of Naruhito's paternal grandmother Empress Kōjun in 2000, Reuters reported that she had been one of the strongest opponents of her son's marriage, and that in the 1960s, she had driven her daughter-in-law and grandchildren to depression by persistently accusing her of not being suitable for her son.
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