Japan?s Crown Princess Masako appeared in public yesterday for the first time in months to attend a UN Children Fund?s event in Tokyo with her husband. Masako, who spent more than a year in seclusion with a stress-related illness, was last seen on Jan. 2 briefly greeting New Year well-wishers from a palace balcony.

A former diplomat and Harvard graduate, Masako has suffered since her 1993 marriage from pressure to adjust to the conservative ways of one of the world?s oldest monarchies. Royal watchers say that much of the stress has come from pressure to bear a male heir. Masako and her husband, Crown Prince Naruhito, have one daughter, three-year-old Aiko, but accession to the Chrysanthemum Throne is currently limited to males.

Yesterday, Naruhito and a relaxed-looking Masako, wearing a dark suit and a long scarf, arrived together to attend the UNICEF event. Neither of them made a speech. Naruhito set off a furore in May last year by saying that life in the palace had ?negated? Masako?s career and her personality. His remarks caused tensions within the imperial family but also set in motion a national debate on changing the 1947 succession law. Progress in the debate has been slow.

Conservatives oppose any change in the succession law that would break what they would believe is an unbroken male line stretching back some 2,600 years. Public opinion polls show that a majority of Japanese favour the idea of a reigning empress.