Princess Yuriko, the oldest living member of Japan’s imperial family, turned 101 on Tuesday.
According to the Imperial Household Agency, the princess – Emperor Naruhito’s great-aunt – is the eldest member of the imperial family born in or after the Meiji era (1868-1912), surpassing her late husband, Prince Mikasa. who died in 2016 at the age of 100.
Princess Yuriko will be staying at St. Luke’s International Hospital in Tokyo from March 3 after she was diagnosed with a mild form of cerebral infarction and aspiration pneumonia. She can communicate and is recovering, but she cannot eat or drink, the agency said.
Buichiro Kuroda, deputy head of the agency, said the organization is paying close attention to the princess given her very old age, although her condition is stable.
Princess Yuriko, the second daughter of Viscount Masanari Takagi, was born in 1923. She married Prince Mikasa in 1941 and had three sons and two daughters. The three sons have already died.
