Betting agencies have big day on royal baby names
Thousands of Britons place bets on the name of child that will be born to Prince William and Kate.
LONDON (AP) - Bookies are having a banner day as thousands of Britons place bets on the name of the child that will be born to Prince William and his wife, Kate.
Ladbrokes took 50,000 bets in the hours after the Duchess of Cambridge went into labor Monday. Company spokesman Alex Donohue says the public has rushed to put small amounts of money such as a pound on the soon-to- be-born royal infant s name because they "want to be involved."
"Never underestimate the British public s obsession with the royal family," he said.
So far, the money is on Alexandra for a girl and James for a boy.
The public may have to wait, though. It is not uncommon for the palace to take its time to choose just the right name.
News that Prince William s wife Kate is in labor invigorated the makeshift encampment outside St. Mary s Hospital a mélange of journalists, photographers, curious onlookers and a few die-hard royalists.
Reporters filed updates in a dozen languages outside the Lindo Wing, although no news has emerged since Kate was admitted early Monday.
Tourists photographed the plain, 5-story brick building, its front door flanked by four police officers, and snapped the scurrying, coffee-swilling photographers and journalists.
Terry Hutt, a 78-year-old carpenter from Cambridge in eastern England, sensed an end to the vigil he has kept for 12 days, sleeping outside the hospital on a bench covered with a Union Jack blanket.
Hutt, who is proud to have met every royal from the late Queen Mother on, said he was doing his bit for Britain by camping outside the hospital in his red, white and blue Union Jack suit, holding flags and congratulatory banners.
"To me, the royal family play a very, very important role," he said. "Visitors from all over the world haven t got a king and queen. It s a plus for us."
As London commuters rushed past the hospital to work, Pascal Faure, a maintenance contractor originally from South Africa, stopped to snap a picture on his phone for friends at home and in Australia.
"It s part of their heritage, I guess, their culture," said Faure, who claimed his own tenuous royal connection: "Apparently my third cousin once removed is Chelsy" Davy, Prince Harry s former girlfriend.
He also had more insight than most into the 5,000-pound ($8,000) -a-night private wing where the Duchess of Cambridge is giving birth. He fixed the air-conditioning there last week a good thing, too, as Monday is scheduled to be the hottest day of the year in London.
"If the air-con stops working, I ll probably be the one to go in," he said,
Some bystanders were bemused by the scale of the media throng, but many were happy to enjoy the sense of occasion.
