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Japan's princess Aiko starts school with a smile
Japan's six-year-old Princess Aiko smiled nervously for the cameras as she arrived with her parents for her first day at Tokyo's exclusive Gakushuin elementary school on Thursday.
Japan's six-year-old Princess Aiko smiled nervously for the cameras as she arrived with her parents for her first day at Tokyo's exclusive Gakushuin elementary school on Thursday.
Aiko, who would be third in line for the throne if she wasn't a girl, was dressed in her school uniform of navy sailor suit with red neckerchief, and was accompanied by her parents, Crown Prince Naruhito and Crown Princess Masako.
She smiled after a word of encouragement from her mother, who was dressed in a white suit.
Aiko may be a royal but, like most Japanese elementary school pupils, she will walk to school each day, Kyodo news agency said.
The princess almost made it into the queue for the Japanese throne because of a shortage of male heirs.
But plans to change the law to allow an empress were shelved after Naruhito's younger brother fathered Prince Hisahito, the first boy born into the imperial family in four decades.
Under current law, if Aiko marries, she loses her royal status. Her aunt was transformed from Princess Sayako into Sayako Kuroda, an ordinary Tokyo housewife, after her marriage to an urban planner.
本周四，日本六岁的爱子公主迎来了上学第一天。当天，她在父母的陪同下来到东京学习院贵族小学参加入学仪式。（现场有很多人争相拍照）面对镜头，爱子笑得有些腼腆。
当天，爱子公主身着海军式校服，佩戴着红色领巾，在父亲德仁太子和母亲雅子太子妃的陪伴下来到学校。如果爱子不是女孩，她应该是日本皇室的第三皇位继承人。
身着白色套装的雅子对女儿说了些鼓励的话，爱子听后面露微笑。
据日本共同社报道，爱子公主虽然是皇室成员，但她还是会像多数日本小学生那样，每天步行上学。
由于日本皇室缺乏男性继承人，爱子公主差点成为继位人选。
因为德仁太子的弟弟生下了小皇子悠仁，之前准备修改法律准许女性继任天皇的计划即被搁置。悠仁是日本皇室四十多年来迎来的首个男性成员。
按照日本现行法律，公主一旦结婚，就将失去皇室头衔。爱子的姑姑纪宫公主就因嫁给一名城市规划师而成了普通民妇，她的称呼也从“纪宫公主”变成了“纪宫黑田”。
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