Princess Mako got an unpaid job working at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

Japan’s Princess Mako is truly out of the Japanese royal family for good. Mako married Kei Komuro last October and soon after, they moved to New York full-time. She gave up all of her royal status and she refused to take a $1.3 million payout for leaving the royal family. Kei works at a law firm and he’s pretty comfortable in America, having gone to law school here and having lived here, on and off, for many years. After the wedding, Mako was seen around New York, shopping for home essentials and generally being low-key. Now she’s reportedly gotten a job! An unpaid job, so this is basically an internship.

Japan’s former Princess Mako has a new title to add to her resumé. Mako Komuro, who married her college boyfriend and moved to New York City last fall, is now reportedly assisting curators at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Because the law in Japan requires a princess to “leave the imperial family upon marriage to a commoner,” Princess Mako gave up her royal titles to marry Komuro. She also turned down a $1.3 million payout from the Japanese government that is traditionally paid to royal women who lose their royal status when they marry.

According to the Japan Times, Mako is serving as an unpaid volunteer at the Met. The 30-year old is working within the museum’s Asian art collection and has specifically been involved in preparing an exhibition of paintings inspired by the life of a 13th-century monk who traveled throughout Japan as he introduced Buddhism.

Mako is well-qualified for the job, having graduated from International Christian University (where she met her future husband Kei Komoro) with a degree in art and cultural heritage. She also studied art history at Scotland’s University of Edinburgh before receiving her master’s in Art Museum and Gallery Studies in 2016 at the University of Leicester. While still performing royal duties, she then worked as a special researcher at Tokyo’s University Museum.

A former curator at the Met tells PEOPLE, “She’s qualified and probably handling pieces in the collection. In general, it’s work which requires a great deal of preparation and often means spending a lot of time in the library.”

[From People]

It kind of pisses me off that she’s doing an unpaid job for a museum? She’s qualified for a paid position! I’m sure Kei wants to support her financially, but Mako is in America now, land of two-income households! New York is expensive, a second income would absolutely help out. Maybe Mako was promised that the unpaid position could lead to a paid position. Or maybe she’s just keeping busy before they start a family. I don’t know and it’s none of my business, but I do hope that Mako gets paid at some point!

Embed from Getty Images

Embed from Getty Images

Photos courtesy of Getty, Avalon Red.

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