Naruhito was born on 23 February 1960 at 4:15 pm in the Imperial Household Agency Hospital in Tokyo Imperial Palace.[6] The prince later quipped, "I was born in a barn inside the moat".[7] His mother, Empress Michiko, is a convert to Shinto from Roman Catholicism. Prior to Naruhito's birth, the announcement about the-then Crown Prince Akihito's engagement and marriage to the then-Ms.