The young man on course to be Japan’s future emperor is attracting the attention of the country’s voracious media, with rumours of girlfriends and security challenges as a university student, and hints of unrest in the palace over succession.

Royalists say the media should leave 19-year-old Prince Hisahito alone to concentrate on his environmental studies course at the University of Tsukuba, while a debate mounts on whether the constitution should be altered to allow his cousin to become Japan’s first empress since the mid-1700s.

Despite a firm majority of ordinary Japanese supporting Princess Aiko’s claim to the throne as the firstborn of the reigning Emperor Naruhito, conservatives point out that the law does not permit an empress.

Repeated panels set up to consider the issue have failed to recommend amending the law to allow an empress and, more recently, Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has indicated that she also favours retaining the presently accepted system.

Tabloid journalists counter that their coverage of the thorny issue is driven by readers’ interests, with Princess Aiko and the future of the monarchy a daily staple.