Japan pregnant princess to be hospitalised-Kyodo

TOKYO, Aug 15 (Reuters) Japan's Princess Kiko, pregnant with a possible heir to the throne, will go into hospital tomorrow Kyodo news agency reported.

Japanese media had said last week that Kiko, 39, the wife of Emperor Akihito's younger son Prince Akishino, was likely to give birth through a Caesarean operation around September 6, ahead of her late September due date, 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 bear 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.

Reuters MS GC1249