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Asian Royalty

Asian Royalty
From the kings of Cambodia and Thailand to the Japanese emperor and the sultans of Malaysia and Brunei, here is everything you need to know about Asia's monarchies.
Meet Japan’s young Prince Hisahito, next in line to the imperial throne
Japan

Video | Japan’s teenage prince pledges to fulfil royal duties

Eighteen-year-old Prince Hisahito met the Japanese press for the first time in his official capacity

Video | Brunei celebrates Prince Abdul Mateen’s wedding

Thailand

Thai army boycotts e-commerce firm Lazada after it enrages royalists

K-pop idols

What to know about Minnie, the Thai-born (G)I-dle star and K-drama actress

Blackpink’s Lisa and fellow Thai star Minnie have known each other since their trainee days and even wear matching necklaces – so what else do we know about the Tomboy singer?

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(G)I-dle’s Minnie has star quality – and superstar K-pop friends. Photo: @min.nicha/Instagram
Millionaires and billionaires

How the Sultan of Brunei Hassanal Bolkiah spends his billions

With Lalique crystal chandeliers inside his private jet and one of Pierre-Auguste Renoir’s seminal works on the wall of his world record-breaking palace, the sultan’s life is OTT in the extreme

Royalty

Princess Mako’s new life in NYC, from an unpaid internship to one-bedroom flat

We find out what the former princess Mako has been up to with her husband in New York, months after she left the Japanese royal family in October 2021

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Japan

Japanese emperor’s daughter says it’s ‘rather tense’ being royal

Princess Aiko, only child of Emperor Naruhito, said some palace rituals ‘seemed strange’; Japan’s royals became the focus of global attention last year when Aiko’s cousin Mako married a commoner.

Princess Aiko speaks at her first press conference at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo. Photo: Kyodo
Royalty

Meghan to Mako: 6 royals who moved to the US – and why

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s highly publicised exit is no secret, but which other royals have moved their lives to the US?

Japan

7 in 10 Japanese happy with an empress, so why the succession crisis?

A shortage of male heirs has left the world’s longest-lived monarchy facing extinction.

Thailand

Thai protest leader Parit Chiwarak freed on bail

In 2020, nearly 160 activists were hit with criminal charges for the protests under Thailand’s tough royal defamation laws, which carry a jail sentence of up to 15 years each.

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Pro-democracy activist Parit ‘Penguin’ Chiwarak waves a white rose and gives a three-fingered salute. Photo: AFP
Fame and celebrity

Why growing up was ‘like Downton Abbey’, not Disney, for India’s Princess Akshita

The Mayurbhanj royal even ensured the survival of one of the family’s ‘dilapidated’ 200-year-old homes by turning it into a boutique hotel anyone can stay in

Princess Akshita grew up in a 100-year-old British bungalow in Kolkata. Photo: Princess Akshita
Fame and celebrity

Who is Jenna Norodom, Cambodia’s little influencer princess?

Cambodia’s nine-year-old princess has already won over the hearts of her people with her talent and cute looks – here’s everything you need to know about her

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Fame and celebrity

Princess Fadzilah of Brunei’s 10-day royal wedding celebration, wrapped

The Sultan of Brunei’s children enjoy the kind of wealth many can only dream of, with lavish weddings and access to some of the world’s biggest stars – but they’re also making their own way in the world

Royalty

What did Brunei’s Princess Fadzilah wear for her wedding?

The Sultan of Brunei’s daughter donned head-turning bridal fashion – including Queen Saleha’s family treasure, a dazzling emerald tiara – in her wedding to Awang Abdullah Nabil Mahmoud Al-Hashimi

Brunei’s Princess Fadzilah and her groom Awang Abdullah Nabil Mahmoud Al-Hashimi sported elegant ensembles on different days of their wedding celebrations. Photos: @muash.portfolio, @newtron_bw/Instagram
Fame and celebrity

Meet Brunei’s royal siblings, from Princess Fadzilah to Prince Mateen

Princess Fadzilah’s opulent 10-day wedding has put the Brunei royal family back in the spotlight – so how do her siblings flaunt the family fortune?

Brunei’s Princess Fadzilah poses with her family members. Photo: @tmski/Instagram
Royalty

14 royals who lost their titles – from Prince Andrew to Princess Mako

Harry and Meghan lost their titles after quitting the royal family, and now Prince Andrew is having his title stripped too … but they aren’t the first, or only, royals to step out of the fold

Royalty

Bali bids king goodbye in lavish ceremony

Anak Agung Ngurah Manik Parasara, who died in late December at the age of 76, was known as a spiritual leader and an advocate of religious tolerance.

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Royalty

Inside Brunei’s lavish royal weddings, from Malik to Majeedah

As the world eagerly awaits more news about Princess Fadzilah’s lavish 10-day wedding, we look back at the recent extravagant nuptials of other Brunei royals …

Take a look at some of Brunei’s extravagant recent royal weddings! Photos: @fyeahBC, @yellowpartynews/Twitter
Royalty

Princesses at 18: how do royals’ lives change when they come of age?

It might be every girl’s dream to grow up a princess – but everything is about to change for these five young female royals about to reach adulthood

Royalty

Meet Princess Fadzilah of Brunei – whose 10-day wedding just kicked off

The daughter of the Sultan of Brunei, the longest-reigning monarch after Queen Elizabeth and one of the wealthiest – is simply ‘Fad’ to her netball team and known by many for her ‘heart of gold’

Japan

How Japan’s royal women have suffered from the stresses of imperial life

Former princess Mako’s diagnosis with post-traumatic stress disorder is only the latest example of stress-induced mental health issues to befall the female members of Japan’s imperial family.

Former princess Mako Komuro, the eldest daughter of Crown Prince Akishino and Crown Princess Kiko, pictured in November en route to her new life in the US. Photo: Reuters
Japan

Japan emperor prays for pandemic dead in New Year message

Japanese Emperor Naruhito looked back on the second year of the coronavirus pandemic in a New Year video address, calling for people to ‘share their pain and support each other’.

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Japan’s Emperor Emeritus Akihito and Empress Emerita Michiko. Photo: Imperial Household Agency of Japan via AP
India

The Indian slum-dweller who claims ownership of New Delhi’s Red Fort

Sultana Begum, who lives in a slum on the outskirts of Kolkata, is the widow of man purported to be the great-grandson of India’s last Mughal ruler. The 68-year-old has spent the past decade petitioning authorities to recognise her royal status and compensate her accordingly.

India

Why India’s feuding royals can’t seem to stay out of court

From Devraj Singh and Lalitya Kumari, to Ambalika Devi and the Gaekwad family, India’s super-rich royals are constantly squabbling about who owns what as their inherited wealth balloons ever higher.

Japan

Is Princess Aiko destined to the same fate as Princess Mako?

She’s the only child of Japan’s Emperor Naruhito, but as a woman, she will never ascend the Chrysanthemum throne – so what next for the young royal, who just turned 20?

Princess Aiko with her pet dog Yuri: if the 20 year old decides to marry, she’ll be forced to leave the royal family. Photo: AFP
Royalty

10 royals with the highest Instagram earning potential, revealed

Between Prince William and Kate Middleton, Queen Elizabeth and Queen Rania of Jordan, who could make the most from sponsored posts?

Dubai’s Crown Prince Hamdan bin Mohammed Al Maktoum, Queen Elizabeth, Prince William and Kate Middleton all have millions of Instagram followers. Photos: AFP; @faz3, @royalfamily, @dukeandduchessofcambridge, Reuters
Japan

What Aiko’s ‘boring’ coming-of-age reveals about Japan’s imperial family

Japan’s Princess Aiko celebrated her 20th birthday with a bland statement that observers say was deliberately calculated to avoid media hype following the departure of her cousin Mako from the imperial family.

Wellness

Explainer | What is PTSD? How Japan’s ex-princess Mako shows it can strike anyone

Following intense media focus on the former Japanese princess’s mental health, experts describe the causes, symptoms and treatment of PTSD, and how to help someone who might have it.

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