TOKYO (AP) – Japan’s Princess Kiko gave birth to a boy early Wednesday, providing the centuries-old Chrysanthemum Throne with its first male heir in more than 40 years, the palace announced.

The birth came about an hour after Kiko, 39, was reported to have undergone a Caesarean. The boy is the third in line to the throne, after Crown Prince Naruhito and Kiko’s husband, Prince Akishino.

The infant, the first male heir born in Japan since Akishino in 1965, was born at 8:27 a.m. and weighed 5.64 pounds, the Imperial Household Agency said. It said that both mother and child were in good condition afterward.

The arrival of a royal boy forestalled a looming succession crisis for the royal family. Japan’s 1947 succession law allows only males to ascend the throne.

Prior to Wednesday’s Naruhito and Akishino were the only royals eligible for the crown.

Kiko, who already had two daughters, was hospitalized on Aug. 16 after showing symptoms of partial placenta previa, in which part of the placenta drops too low in the uterus.

The gender of the baby had been a closely guarded palace secret, though Japanese tabloids speculated the child will be a boy.

The last potential male heir born was Akishino himself, in 1965. Emperor Akihito’s eldest son, Naruhito, has a daughter with his wife Masako, but the couple have no sons, meaning there is no one to inherit the throne after he and his brother. Kiko, likewise, had no sons.

The looming succession crunch had prompted serious discussion of changing the law to allow a female to assume the throne. The proposal had the support of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and a majority of the public.

Even before the 1947 law, reigning empresses were rare, usually serving as stand-ins for a few years until a suitable male can be installed. The last reigning empress was Gosakuramachi, who assumed the throne in 1763.

Debate over the succession law was divisive and emotional. Some conservatives proposed a revival of concubines to produce imperial heirs, and others argued that allowing a woman on the throne would destroy a precious Japanese tradition.

But support began to wane when the debate early this year became too fractious. Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi’s government put the reform aside after Kiko announced her pregnancy, raising the possibility that a boy could be born.

Traditionalists argued that allowing women to carry the imperial line would destroy more than 1,000 years of Japanese culture, saying an emperor’s Y-chromosome contained the essence of the royal family and should be preserved.

Instead of putting women on the throne, some opponents suggested reinstating the abolished prewar aristocracy to widen the pool of heirs. Others proposed bringing back the tradition of imperial concubines to breed potential emperors.

Some proponents of a change in the law, which could lead to the first woman on the throne since Gosakuramachi took the crown in 1763, say the debate should go ahead no matter what the gender of Kiko’s baby.

“I think we will start discussing the issue again,” said Eiko Shinotsuka, professor of gender studies at Ochanomizu University. “The proposal was something that was delivered by a bona fide conference that cannot be ignored.”