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Britain's Princess Kate: Love is the Greatest Christmas Gift

Visitors walk through the 'Cathedral' on the Christmas light trail as it returns for its12th year with a showcase of new installations set within the UNESCO World Heritage Site landscape of Kew Gardens in London, England, Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)
Visitors walk through the 'Cathedral' on the Christmas light trail as it returns for its12th year with a showcase of new installations set within the UNESCO World Heritage Site landscape of Kew Gardens in London, England, Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)
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Britain's Princess Kate: Love is the Greatest Christmas Gift

Visitors walk through the 'Cathedral' on the Christmas light trail as it returns for its12th year with a showcase of new installations set within the UNESCO World Heritage Site landscape of Kew Gardens in London, England, Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)
Visitors walk through the 'Cathedral' on the Christmas light trail as it returns for its12th year with a showcase of new installations set within the UNESCO World Heritage Site landscape of Kew Gardens in London, England, Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

Kate, Britain's Princess of Wales, says love is the greatest gift people can give each other in a message to guests who will attend her annual Christmas carol service next week at London's Westminster Abbey.
The Dec. 6 carol concert, the fourth she has hosted, marks Kate's most prominent return to royal engagements since she underwent a course of preventative chemotherapy for cancer.
In a letter to the 1,600 invited guests, Kate, 42, the wife of heir to the throne Prince William, returned to themes of love and the need for empathy about which she has spoken in previous very personal statements and video updates on her health.
Christmas, her letter said, was not only a time for celebration, but also for reflection and relief from the pressures of daily life.
She said the Christmas story reflected "our own vulnerabilities", and how much people needed each other despite their differences.
"Above all else it encourages us to turn to love, not fear," she wrote. "It is this love which is the greatest gift we can receive. Not just at Christmas, but every day of our lives," Reuters quoted her as saying.
William, who earlier this month said the year had been "brutal" for the royal family with Kate's treatment coming in the wake of his father King Charles' own cancer diagnosis, will give a reading at the service.
Six-time Olympic track cycling champion Chris Hoy, who revealed he had terminal cancer himself in October, will light a candle.
The "Together At Christmas" service will be broadcast on Britain's ITV on Christmas Eve.

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Japan's Popular Princess Aiko Turns 23 with Future as a Royal in Doubt

FILE - Japan's Princess Aiko greets the guests during a spring garden party at the Akasaka Palace imperial garden in Tokyo, on April 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, File)
FILE - Japan's Princess Aiko greets the guests during a spring garden party at the Akasaka Palace imperial garden in Tokyo, on April 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, File)
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Japan's Popular Princess Aiko Turns 23 with Future as a Royal in Doubt

FILE - Japan's Princess Aiko greets the guests during a spring garden party at the Akasaka Palace imperial garden in Tokyo, on April 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, File)
FILE - Japan's Princess Aiko greets the guests during a spring garden party at the Akasaka Palace imperial garden in Tokyo, on April 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, File)

Japan’s popular Princess Aiko turned 23 on Sunday, as she takes on more official duties even while her future in the imperial family remains in doubt, The Associated Press reported.
Aiko, the only child of Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako, graduated from university earlier this year and has since been participating in official duties and palace rituals while working at the Red Cross Society, according to the Imperial Household Agency.
But Japanese law requires her to renounce her royal status and leave the family if she marries outside the imperial family.
The vast majority of Japan’s public supports changing the law to allow her to remain a royal and become emperor, but conservatives in the governing party insist on keeping male-only succession. Japan’s rapidly dwindling imperial family has only 16 members, including four men.
Aiko was to mark her birthday with her parents at the imperial palace in Tokyo. The IHA also released several photos of Aiko, including one of her standing by a persimmon tree at a palace garden. Another showed her holding pieces of traditional hand-crafted washi paper that she made at a workshop during her first solo official trip in October to the National Sports Festival in Japan’s southwestern prefecture of Saga.
The 1947 Imperial House Law, which largely preserves conservative prewar family values, allows only males to take the throne and forces female royals who marry outside the family to give up their status. With only one young male member, that puts the survival of the 2,000-year-old monarchy in jeopardy.
The youngest male member of the imperial family, Prince Hisahito — Aiko's 18-year-old cousin — is currently the last heir apparent, posing a major problem for the system.
The government is looking for a way to keep the succession stable without relying on women, such as allowing the family to adopt new male members from former noble families that lost their status after World War II.
Aiko's own views on the topic are unknown. She's only had one full news conference, when she reached adulthood.
Last month, the United Nations women’s rights committee in Geneva issued a report that called for the Japanese government to allow a female emperor, among other issues hindering gender equality in the country.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi dismissed the report “regrettable” and “inappropriate.” He said the imperial succession is a matter of fundamental national identity and that it is not covered by constitutional basic rights.
Crown Prince Akishino, Aiko's uncle, was asked about the succession debate at a news conference marking his 59th birthday Saturday, and replied that members of the royal family are “living humans” and that the palace officials who support their daily lives should know how it affects them.
At her work at the Japanese Red Cross Society, Aiko is assigned to volunteer training program, the IHA said. On weekends, it said, the princess enjoys taking walks with her parents and playing volleyball, tennis and badminton with palace officials.