Japan Princess Mako's wedding back on track

The boyfriend of Japan's Princess Mako insisted yesterday his family had no financial difficulties hanging over them, after reports of a unpaid loan apparently forced a postponement to a fairytale wedding between the two college sweethearts.

Kei Komuro and Mako, the eldest granddaughter of Emperor Akihito, had been scheduled to become formally engaged in a traditional Japanese court ceremony last year before a royal wedding planned in late 2018.

But the marriage was dramatically called off last February amid reports Komuro's family had run into financial difficulties, with his mother failing to repay a four-million-yen ($36,000) loan from a former fiance of hers.

Komuro said that when his mother and her fiance split up in 2012, the man had said the money he had offered them during the engagement did not need to be repaid.

But he changed his tune the year after, according to Komuro, demanding the money back in a letter in August 2013.