渡辺允氏死去、８５歳　元侍従長、上皇ご夫妻支える

　１９９６年から約１０年半にわたり宮内庁侍従長として上皇ご夫妻の活動を支えた渡辺允（わたなべ・まこと）氏が８日午前９時３７分、誤嚥（ごえん）性肺炎のため東京都内の医療施設で死去した。８５歳だった。東京都出身。葬儀は近親者で執り行い、後日お別れの会を開く予定。
　５９年外務省に入り、駐ヨルダン大使や中近東アフリカ局長、儀典長などを歴任。９５年宮内庁式部官長、９６年から２００７年まで侍従長を務め、上皇ご夫妻のサイパン慰霊訪問に同行した。退任の記者会見では「在任中に紀宮さま（黒田清子さん）が結婚され、幸せな家庭を築いたのが一番の思い出」と語った。
　退任後は著書「天皇家の執事」などを出版。１２年から２０年まで宮内庁参与を務めた。（2022/02/08-18:05）

Makoto Watanabe, who served as grand chamberlain to former Japanese Emperor Akihito for more than a decade from 1996, died of aspiration pneumonia Tuesday morning. He was 85.
   After entering the Foreign Ministry in 1959, Watanabe served in such posts as ambassador to Jordan, director-general of the ministry's Middle Eastern and African Affairs Bureau, and chief of protocol at the ministry.
   He became grand master of the ceremonies at the Imperial Household Agency in 1995 and then served as grand chamberlain to the Emperor for 10 and a half years until 2007.
   Among other duties as grand chamberlain, Watanabe, in June 2005, about 60 years after the end of World War II, accompanied Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko, now holding the titles of Emperor Emeritus and Empress Emerita, respectively, on their visit to the U.S. territory of Saipan in the Pacific.
   Watanabe also served as an adviser to the agency between 2012 and 2020. Emperor Emeritus Akihito, the father of current Emperor Naruhito, abdicated the throne at the end of April 2019.