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MASAKO AND FAMILY JET OFF TO THE NETHERLANDS

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17 AUGUST 2006

Dressed in a pretty red and white frock, Japan's Princess Aiko prepared for her first ever trip abroad with her parents Crown Prince Naruhito and Crown Princess Masako on Thursday. The family were all smiles as they left on a commercial flight from Narita airport for the Netherlands where they will enjoy a two-week stay at the invitation of Queen Beatrix.

Forty-two-year-old Masako looked relaxed as she held on tightly to her young daughter. The royals will be joined on holiday by 11 attendants including chief doctor Yutaka Ono, who treats the princess for a stress-related disorder.

The break is intended to help the Harvard-educated former diplomat recuperate from her illness. "It is therapeutically useful to rest in a quiet environment, especially for the three of them to spend a peaceful time together," explained her medical team back in June when the trip was announced.

After arriving in Amsterdam the couple and their four-year-old daughter will travel by car to a palace in Apeldoorn in the eastern Netherlands to stay as guests of the Dutch royal family. Masako may also meet up with her father, Hisashi Owada, who is currently serving as a judge at the International Court of Justice in the Hague.

Naruhito, 46, last visited the country in February 2002 to attend the nuptials of Crown Prince Willem-Alexander and Maxima but the couple have not traveled abroad together since December 2002 when they made an official visit to Australia and New Zealand. Masako has largely stepped back from public engagements after emotional difficulties surfaced in 2003 - thought to stem from the pressure to produce a male heir and adjusting to life in the Imperial household.

The private trip comes the day after Masako's sister-in-law Princess Kiko was admitted to hospital in Tokyo, after experiencing complications with her pregnancy, to prepare for the birth by caesarean section of her third child – expected to be in early September.

There are high hopes among conservatives in Japan that the baby will be a boy, ending the current succession crisis. Despite moves to amend the constitution and allow Aiko to inherit the Chrysanthemum throne, plans are currently on hold as the Japanese wait to find out if Kiko, the wife of Naruhito's younger brother Akishino, will deliver a male successor.