The presence, Monday, September 19, of the Japanese imperial couple at the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II reflects the importance of relations between the two monarchies. Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako made the trip – their first outside Japan since taking the throne in 2019 – because “The British Royal Family and the Japanese Imperial Family enjoyed friendly relations during Queen Elizabeth’s seventy-year reign”according to government spokesman Hirokazu Matsuno.
Over her seven decades of reign, the British sovereign has known Emperor Hirohito (1901-1989), her son, Akihito (born in 1933, who abdicated in 2019), and now Naruhito. The Japanese monarch observed three days of mourning at the announcement of the death of the queen, and expressed his ” gratitude “ and his ” valued “ for “his many accomplishments and contributions”.
An emperor does not traditionally attend funerals, in Japan or abroad. The decision to travel to London reflects the strong ties between the royal and imperial families, which date back to the beginning of Japan’s modernization during the Meiji era (1868-1912).
British “modernization”
As early as 1869, Prince Alfred, second son of Queen Victoria (1819-1901), paid a visit to the archipelago. Subsequently, the members of the Japanese imperial family, at the head of an island nation like their counterparts in the United Kingdom, often drew inspiration from the British monarchy to “modernize” their behavior.
The three-week visit to England in 1921 by Hirohito, then crown prince, would have convinced the future sovereign to abandon traditional Japanese outfits for costumes, “made in” Savile Row, a street in London famous for its tailors. He also let himself be seduced by the ham-egg-toast breakfast, to the detriment of rice and miso soup.
“I consider King George V to be my second father,” Emperor Hirohito said in 1961.
His three days at Buckingham Palace have remained an unforgettable memory: “I was with King George V, and he taught me and his son, the Prince of Wales and future King Edward VIII, how to be a constitutional monarch. I consider King George V as my second father”he explained in 1961.
The abolition, in 1924, of the system of concubines put in place to increase the number of male heirs, the establishment of monogamy and the strengthening of family ties would also have been inspired by the functioning of the British family.
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