Wearing a white dress and pearls, Japan's Princess Sayako bid farewell to Tokyo's royal palace on Tuesday to wed commoner Yoshiki Kuroda.
Well-wishers cheered as an official car slowly drove Sayako out of the gates of the palace, bringing her 36 years as a member of the world's oldest hereditary monarchy to a close.
Unlike her brothers, Crown Prince Naruhito and Prince Akishino, Sayako must give up her royal title and generous royal allowance and move from the moat-ringed palace to a Tokyo apartment after the wedding.
Sayako and Kuroda, a Tokyo city employee, are childhood acquaintances, but their romance began two years ago at a tennis party thrown by Akishino.
