Tuesday, July 16, 2013

Britain's Baby Bets

Britain's bookmakers are passionately betting on the soon-to-be royal child's name

In Britain, there is nothing more exciting than royal gossips. Recently, the attention has focused on Prince William and his wife Kate's baby, due in this month of July, which is to be a girl according to bookmakers. There is also a big fuss around her name, some betting it will be Alexandra.

William and Kate, officially known as the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge since their marriage in April 2011, are waiting their first child. Even though the baby's sex had not been yet revealed officially, the royal couple has dropped some hints in spite of themselves. Indeed, the duchess told a well-wisher who had given her a gift last month: "Thank you, I'll take this for my d..." before swiftly stopping herself.

But now the attention has drifted onto the baby's name. A spokeswoman from Coral bookmakers, who have cut the odds on Alexandra to 12-1 from 25-1, said that "it's the second biggest surge of bets we have witnessed since we were forced to suspend betting on the couple having a girl after Kate dropped a hint". It is indeed not the first time national bet made on the royal couple, and something tells us that it will not be the last.

How they are going to name their baby is a debate that has gone down to four names overall: Elizabeth still remains the punters' favourite with odds of 5-1, Diana being a close second with odds of 6-1, and the third position going to Victoria, at 7-1. Though, if some bookmakers have sharply cut the odds on Alexandra, it may be because a 76-year-old cousin of Queen Elizabeth is named so, and Queen Victoria's son Edward VII and his wife Alexandra were crowned in 1902. Therefore, the name does have a good pedigree, even though it seems less closely connected with British royalty as the former three names.

As always, the royal family seems to be a lightening feature of Britain's actuality, and has always triggered a singular love from British people. Whatever the baby's name may be, in the end, we are pretty sure the whole of Britain will love it as their own child.

This article was written for a university assignment.

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