Celebrity Life

Princess Mako of Akishino, the niece of Emperor Naruhito, is set to marry her partner Kei Komuro at a low-key ceremony on 26 October, 2021.

The marriage will take place at a registry office followed by a press conference. Soon after the marriage, the princess and her husband will leave for the United States where they plan to settle permanently.

Since Komuro is a commoner, the princess will also become a commoner after marriage. This is because Japanese law states that female members of the royal family lose their royal status upon marriage to a commoner.

The 30-year-old Princess Mako met Komuro, who is of the same age, at the International Christian University in Tokyo, where both studied.

Raised by a single mother, Komuro is a lawyer. He studied law at the Fordham School of Law in New York and works at a law firm in New York City. On the other hand, the princess graduated with a master's degree in art museum and gallery studies from the University of Leicester in the UK.

Their engagement was announced in 2017 — a piece of news that was well received in Japan at the time. The Japanese media lavished praise on Komuro. The princess had said at a press conference that Komuro was "sincere, strong-minded, a hard worker with a big heart" and she was drawn to his "bright smiles like the sun".

However, they ran into rough weather soon after it emerged that Komuro’s mother owed USD 36,000 to her former fiancé. The media quickly turned on Komuro, and he was dubbed a “gold-digger”. Public opinion of him changed, too, and the Imperial Household postponed the marriage, which was expected to be held in 2018.

Earlier in 2021, Komuro issued a 28-page statement in defence of his mother, saying that his mother believed that the money was a gift and that Komuro has promised to pay it back.

In October this year, after announcing 26 October as their date of the marriage, the Imperial Household Agency said that intense media scrutiny had resulted in Princess Mako developing post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Speaking to the media at the Imperial Household Agency, Tsuyoshi Akiyama, director of the NTT Medical Centre Tokyo, who is also the princess’s psychiatrist, said that she “finds it difficult to feel happy due to the persistent fear of her life being destroyed."

The princess also expressed her desire to turn down a USD 1.3 million payout from the government given to female members of the royal family who lose their title. According to The Japan Times, the government will agree to the request.

Meanwhile, Komuro remained on the wrong side of the media as well as Japanese royal family loyalists when he was seen sporting a ponytail upon his arrival in Japan for the wedding. For some in Japan’s society, a ponytail on someone who is going to marry a princess of the Japanese royal family is a sign of non-conformity.

(Main and Featured images: Handout / Imperial Household Agency of Japan / AFP)

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Celebrity engagement rings have always caught the attention of fans, but when it comes to this piece of jewellery adorned by the royals, the buzz around it is at another level. Whether proposing with family heirlooms or going all out and designing the perfect engagement ring themselves — the royals know how to profess their love in style and grandeur. 

Creative resource Design Bundles conducted research wherein it analysed 25 most popular royal engagement rings. Their goal was to find out the 10 most Googled engagement rings. 

From Meghan Markle’s cushion-cut diamond ring to Kate Middleton’s heirloom ring, here are the ten most Googled royal engagement rings. 

Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex

It’s not a shocker that the world’s most Googled royal engagement ring belongs to none other than the former Suits (2011–2019) actress and the Duchess of Sussex, Meghan Markle. Raking in a hefty 20,000 searches per month, the cushion-cut diamond ring is designed by husband, Prince Harry, himself. 

Estimated at £100,000 (approximately US$ 1,35,727), the gorgeous ring features a large square centre diamond sourced ethically from Botswana. The two smaller diamonds, which are placed on either side of the large 5-carat diamond, belong to Princess Diana’s collection. The stones are set in yellow gold.

Kate Middleton, Duchess of Cambridge

With 8,200 Google searches per month, Kate Middleton’s royal engagement ring is among the most popular ones. The ring, comprising an oval 12-carat Ceylon sapphire encircled by 14 solitaire diamonds, is made of 18-karat white gold.

Originally, this was Princess Diana’s engagement ring. It was inspired by a sapphire-diamond brooch, made by the then-Crown jeweller Garrad, that Prince Albert gifted Queen Victoria. The brooch, which is now a Crown heirloom, was probably on Prince Charles’ mind when he asked the same Garrad to send a few rings to the then-Lady Diana to choose from. This was the ring she picked. 

After her untimely death, the ring was inherited by her elder son, Prince William, as per the late princess’ “Letter of Wishes”. She wished her children to have all the jewellery she owned. 

According to E! Online, the ring was estimated at a value of £300,000 (then US$ 500,000) in 2014.

Grace Kelly, Princess of Monaco 

Oscar-winning actress and princess Grace Kelly’s Cartier ring was given to her by Prince Rainier III of Monaco and is one of the most Googled rings too. Estimated at £3 million (around US$ 40,71,735), the eternity band is made into a beautiful sight with a 10.47-carat emerald-cut diamond sandwiched between two baguette diamonds. 

Drawing 3,900 searches per month, the royal engagement band set with rubies and diamonds — red and white being the colour of Monaco’s flag — is a family heirloom. 

Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon

Another one of the most beautiful royal engagement rings on the list, Princess Margaret’s stunning ruby trilogy ring with a halo of smaller diamonds gets 3,400 monthly searches. 

What made the ring even more special was that it was designed by her ex-husband Anthony Armstrong-Jones to bear semblance to a rosebud, keeping in mind Margaret’s middle name — Rose. 

Queen Elizabeth II

Drawing in 2,600 searches per month, Queen Elizabeth’s royal engagement ring was presented to her by the late Prince Philip. It was made from his mother Princess Alice of Battenberg’s tiara. 

Estimated at £100,000 (around US$ 1,35,835), the platinum ring consists of a 3-carat round solitaire and has five diamonds on each shoulder. 

Princess Eugenie of York

Receiving around 1,600 monthly searches, Princess Eugenie’s blush pink Padparadscha sapphire, encircled by diamonds, given to her by husband Jack Brooksbank is a sight to behold.

Her royal engagement ring is somewhat similar to her mother and Duchess of York Sarah Ferguson’s engagement ring. 

Princess Beatrice of York

Tailing her sister’s royal engagement ring at 1,500 monthly searches is Princess Beatrice’s bespoke ring from British jeweller Shaun Leane. 

The princess’s husband Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi proposed to her with this gorgeous band, comprising a 3.5-carat round diamond and two smaller diamonds. It is accompanied by tapered baguettes on each side, extending halfway down the band and lending a vintage art deco look.

Queen Elizabeth, The Queen Mother

Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, received a sapphire and diamond ring from her husband, King George VI. Later, she chose a ring with a large pearl, bordered by diamonds to replace the earlier one. 

Not left too behind in popularity, her royal engagement ring gets 900 searches per month. 

Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall 

Camilla Parker Bowles or the Duchess of Cornwall’s five-carat emerald-cut diamond ring hedged by three diamond baguettes on the sides has been seared by hundreds. Presented to her by Prince Charles, the royal engagement ring belonged to his grandmother — Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother.

Estimated at £100,000 (US$ 1,35,840), her art deco engagement ring receives 800 monthly searches. 

Anne, Princess Royal

The Princess Royal received two engagement rings in her lifetime — the first was a trilogy sapphire ring with a diamond on each side, presented to her by first husband Mark Philipps; the other one was a cabochon sapphire, surrounded by three diamonds on both the sides, given to her by Vice Admiral Sir Timothy Laurence. 

Princess Anne is the owner of the world’s tenth most Googled royal engagement rings, raking in approximately 500 searches per month. 

Main and Featured image: @theroyalfamily/Instagram

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Fifty metres underground — this is the depth that local winemakers chose when they decided to store 10,000 wine bottles in the Aven d'Orgnac caves, an underground tourist attraction located at the southern end of the limestone plateau of the Gorges de l'Ardèche.

The experiment began in March 2018, when a new storage facility was specially created in a disused access tunnel to allow wine to mature in what amounts to a highly stable and peaceful environment.

A living product that ages best in undisturbed darkness, the wine will have benefited from ideal conditions: A constant temperature of around 12°C and an all-year-long rate of humidity of over 95%.

On December 12, 1,000 bottles of Côtes du Vivarais "Grand Aven 2017" from this treasure trove will be passed from hand to hand by a chain of human volunteers who will bring them back to the surface after two years underground. Thereafter, they will go under the hammer with a range of other local vintages in an auction with modest reserve prices.

Lots on offer will include 150 magnums of Terra Helvorum 2017 starting at 30 euros, 350 bottles of 2015 Terra Helvorum for as little as 15 euros and 350 bottles of Grand Aven 2016 from just 10 euros.

On land and sea

These days, experiments to store wine deep underground are very much in vogue in France. On June 3 of this year, 500 bottles were placed in racks at a depth of 103 metres in caves in Padirac under the watchful eye of Serge Dubs, the Best Sommelier of the World in 1989.

The first of these to return to the surface will be brought up for an initial tasting in the spring of 2021. And let's not forget that this experiment is focused on a very particular wine: A Clos Triguedina Cahors, christened Cuvée Probus, which has been produced to honour the 130-year anniversary of the Padirac Chasm.

Surprisingly enough, this new approach to maturing wine was initially inspired by a find at sea. In 2010, divers in the Baltic discovered a wreck containing what turned out to be a cargo of champagne, which was probably on its way to 1840s Russia.

The wave of experimentation that is now ongoing began when the bubbly, which was made by such houses as Veuve Clicquot, Heidsieck and the now defunct Juglar, was discovered to still be delicious after some 170 years under water.

In Saint-Jean-de-Luz in the French Basque country, winemaker Emmanuel Poirmeur has registered a patent for a process that involves vinifying wine in special vats at a depth of 15 metres under water. For its part, Leclerc-Briant set a record when it vinified one of its champagnes at a depth of 60 meters under the Atlantic in 2012, not surprisingly the vintage was christened "Abyss."

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