Tokyo ? Wearing a white dress and pearls, Japan’s Princess Sayako bid farewell to Tokyo’s royal palace today 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.

A short while later she arrived at the venue of her wedding, the swanky Imperial Hotel, and entered with the groom and her parents. Kyodo News agency reported that the ceremony, which was not televised, began minutes later.

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 her wedding.

Under a 1947 law, female royals automatically become commoners when they are married and are barred from assuming the throne.

The post-nuptials will be low key, the Imperial Household Agency has said. After the reception, the newlyweds are to dine at the hotel and go straight to their new home.