Background

Setsuko Chichibu-no-miya was born in Walton-on-Thames, England. Her father Tsuneo Matsudaira (1877–1949) was Japanese ambassador to the United States (1924) and later to Great Britain (1928), and still later, Imperial Household Minister (1936–45, 1946–47). Her mother was the former Nobuko Nabeshima.

Although technically born a commoner, she was a scion of distinguished aristocratic families with close ties to the Japanese Imperial Family on both sides. Her paternal grandfather, Katamori Matsudaira, was the last daimyō of Aizu, a cadet branch of the Tokugawa dynasty. Her maternal grandfather was Marquis Naohiro Nabeshima, former daimyo of Saga. Her mother's elder sister, Itsuko (1882–1976), married Prince Morimasa Nashimoto, an uncle of Empress Kōjun.

Education

In 1925, while her father was ambassador to the United States, Setsuko was educated at the Sidwell Friends School in Washington, D.C. (1925–1928).

Career

In 1937, the prince and princess were sent on a tour of Europe which took several months. They represented Japan at the May 1937 coronation of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth in Westminster Abbey and subsequently visited Sweden and the Netherlands as the guests of King Gustav V and Queen Wilhelmina, respectively. Princess Chichibu stayed in Switzerland while her husband met Adolf Hitler in Nuremberg at the end of the trip. She felt a great love for the United States and for England and, as an anglophile, was greatly saddened by Japan's entry into the Second World War on the side of the Axis powers.

After the Prince's death of tuberculosis in 1953, Princess Chichibu became president of the Society for the Prevention of Tuberculosis, honorary president of the Britain-Japan Society, the Sweden-Japan Society, and an honorary vice president of the Japanese Red Cross. The Princess, who was fluent in English, made several semi-official visits to Great Britain and Sweden.

Connections

Upon her return to Japan, Empress Teimei chose Setsuko to marry her second son, Prince Chichibu. She married the Prince after her uncle, Viscount Morio Matsudaira, formally adopted her, thus removing the status incongruity between the prince and his bride, by making Setsuko the adopted daughter of a viscount.

On 28 September 1928, aged 19, she wed Yasuhito, Prince Chichibu, and became Princess Chichibu, and the first and only foreign-born member of the Japanese imperial family. The bride and groom were eighth cousins, thrice removed, as both were descended from Nabeshima Katsushige, the first lord of Saga. Prince and Princess Chichibu had no children, as Princess Chichibu's only pregnancy ended in a miscarriage. But by all accounts their marriage was filled with love and happiness for each other.

Father:

Tsuneo Matsudaira

He was Japanese ambassador to the United States (1924) and later to Great Britain (1928), and still later, Imperial Household Minister (1936–45, 1946–47).

husband:

Chichibu

Grandfather:

Katamori Matsudaira

He was the last daimyō of Aizu, a cadet branch of the Tokugawa dynasty. Her maternal grandfather was Marquis Naohiro Nabeshima, former daimyo of Saga.

Sister:

Itsuko

She married Prince Morimasa Nashimoto, an uncle of Empress Kōjun.

step-father:

Setsuko