Japan princess to have baby around September 6

TOKYO, Aug 8 (Reuters) Japan's Princess Kiko, pregnant with a possible heir to the throne, will likely have her baby by a Caesarean operation around September 6, public broadcaster NHK said Today.

The Imperial Household Agency had said earlier that Kiko, 39, the wife of Emperor Akihito's younger son Prince Akishino, was likely to undergo a Caesarean ahead of her due date in late September because of a complication in her pregnancy.

No male has been born into Japan's imperial family since 1965, and the possibility that Kiko might have a son has halted plans to revise a 1947 imperial succession law to give women equal rights to inherit the throne. Crown Prince Naruhito, the emperor's elder son, has one daughter, 4-year-old Aiko.

His wife, Princess Masako, 42, has been largely absent from public duties in recent years, suffering from a mental disorder many commentators attribute partly to the pressure to produce an heir.

Masako, a Harvard-educated former diplomat, is set to take a rare overseas holiday in the Netherlands with her family later this month, but is expected to return on August 31.

A spokesman for the Imperial Household Agency said he had no information on the date of the Caesarean.

Japanese tabloid magazines have speculated that the baby is already known to be a boy, but the agency says there will be no early announcements, not least because the parents do not want to know the child's sex ahead of time.

Akishino and Kiko have two older children, both girls.

Reuters BDP SP1103