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Wednesday September 6, 8:08 AMLEAD: Princess Kiko gives birth to heir to imperial throne(Kyodo) _ (EDS: ADDING INFO)Princess Kiko, the wife of Prince Akishino, Emperor Akihito's second son, gave birth to a baby boy on Wednesday morning, bringing the first heir to the Chrysanthemum Throne in nearly 41 years. The boy was born by Caesarean section at Aiiku Hospital in Tokyo's Minato Ward at 8:27 a.m., the Imperial Household Agency said, adding the boy weighs 2,558 grams. The princess and her son are both doing fine, government sources said. The boy stands third in line to the throne after Crown Prince Naruhito, 46, and Prince Akishino, 40. His birth is likely to stall the debate on whether to revise the Imperial House Law to allow female monarchs and their descendants to ascend the throne. The crown prince and his wife Crown Princess Masako, 42, have only one child, 4-year-old Princess Aiko, but she cannot become a reigning empress under the 1947 law, which limits imperial heirs to males who have an emperor on their fathers' side. Though a looming succession crisis for the world's oldest hereditary monarchy has apparently been averted, the dearth of successors in the 23-member imperial family continues, and experts warn that the nation will definitely head into a similar crisis in the future. The newborn baby is the first son and the third child for Prince Akishino and his wife, 39, who have two daughters -- Princess Mako, 14, and Princess Kako, 11. He is also the fourth grandchild of Emperor Akihito, 72, and Empress Michiko, 71. The last child born into the imperial family was Princess Aiko in 2001. Until the birth of the new boy, all of the imperial family's nine children born after Prince Akishino were female, leaving no viable successor after the prince. |
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