Within half an hour of Kensington Palace’s announcement on Monday that Prince William and Kate Middleton are expecting their third child, bookies were at the ready, receiving odds on the royal baby’s name and gender.
A younger sibling to Prince George, four, and two-year-old Princess Charlotte, the statement from the palace said “the Queen and members of both families are delighted with the news”.
And so were the bookies.
A London-based bookmaker revealed the most popular odds, reports TIME:
Currently Alice is the most popular choice, with odds at 8/1, followed by Elizabeth (10/1), James (12/1) and Arthur (12/1). The odds on gender are equal, at 10/11 for a boy and a girl, and the odds on the Duchess of Cambridge having twins are pretty high, at 33/1.
The oddsmakers clearly believe that there’s a chance the newborn could be named after a former or current member of the royal family. Diana (the name of Prince William and Prince Harry’s late mother) has been given odds of 16/1, Margaret (the name of the Queen’s late sister) has been given odds of 20/1 and Charles (the name of the baby’s grandfather) has been given odds of 25/1.
The name Donald has been given particularly high odds of 50/1, but William Hill did not elaborate on why that might be the case.
Another bookmaker shared similar odds:
Alice is 7/1, followed by Arthur (10/1), Victoria (10/1), Alexandra (12/1), Albert (14/1) and Phillip (14/1). The odds on Middleton having twins is 4/1 and triplets is 50/1.
But hold the phone – who the f*8k is Alice? According to Vogue:
Why Alice and Arthur? There’s some family precedent: Alice was last the name of Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester, who was Queen Elizabeth’s aunt.
Arthur is Prince William’s middle name (Prince Charles wanted it to be his first, but Princess Diana didn’t like it).
But all the names listed have a royal connection to a past or present royal—especially Elizabeth and Philip, the names of the baby’s grandparents, and Henry, the real name of Prince Harry.
Philip, in particular, would be a sensible choice: The 96-year-old Prince retired from royal life this year after nearly 70 yeas of service (although being named after a living royal may be an undue burden for a young child, and also, just plain confusing at family holidays).
Someone could be making a lot of money.
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