Tokyo (The Japan News) - The English titles of the Emperor and the Empress will be His Majesty the Emperor Emeritus and Her Majesty the Empress Emerita, respectively, after the Emperor abdicates on April 30 and a new Imperial era begins, the Imperial Household Agency has announced.
The Latin word emeritus and its feminine form emerita will be included in their titles to clearly indicate the change of their statuses.
In Japanese, the Emperor will be titled “joko” and the Empress “jokogo” after the abdication.
The agency also said on Monday that, though Pope Benedict XVI adopted the title emeritus after his resignation, it has never been applied to kings or queens that have abdicated the throne. In the Netherlands, retired kings and queens are known as princes and princesses, just as they were before their enthronement.
It has also been decided that the English equivalent of “koshi” — the status of the first in line to the Imperial throne — will be His Imperial Highness the Crown Prince, the same as for the current crown prince.
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