British bookmakers have suspended betting on the gender of Meghan and Herry’s baby after receiving a huge number of bets on the royal couple having a girl.
However, betting is still continuing on the first name of the couple’s first child, with Diana, the name of Harry’s late mother, shooting to the top of the odds.
So far, there has been no official confirmation of the gender of the royal baby, which Meghan revealed this morning was due in April, a previously covered by the Inquisitr . She was also overheard telling well-wishers that she doesn’t know the gender of the new baby yet, adding that she and Harry were looking forward to “a surprise”.
But British bookmakers Betfair has suspended betting on the gender after a flurry of bets over the weekend on the baby being a girl. This spike in activity came after relatively few bets being taken on the gender before.
Betfair Spokesperson Katie Baylis told the Daily Mail , “We haven’t seen too much betting on this market for a while, but tonight all of a sudden we have seen a flurry of betting activity on the baby to a girl.”
“So much so that we’ve had to suspend the market and stop taking bets on the sex of the baby,” she continued. “If the punters are anything to go by, then we could have a new Princess in a couple of months’ time.”
Baylis was also asked about what gamblers thought the name of the new baby would be and confirmed that Diana was now the favorite. “Diana is the 8/1 favorite, with Alice at 13/1 and Grace at 14/1 for the name of the child,” she explained.
If British bets do prove to be correct then it will be good news for Harry. He revealed that he was hoping to have a girl when the royal couple was on an official visit to Australia last year.
Harry was attending an Invictus Games event in Sydney when a spectator yelled out “Congratulations, I hope it’s a girl” and in an unusually candid answer in front of the cameras, Harry replied, “So do I!”
Speculation over possible names of the baby has been rife ever since the couple announced they were expecting a child. Harry’s brother William and his wife Kate Middleton have chosen very traditional names for all three of their children, George, Charlotte, and Louis.
This has led to some royal observers suggesting that Harry and Meghan could opt for something more unique. One royal expert, Carolyn Harris, the author of Raising Royalty: 1,000 Years of Royal Parenting, explained to Vogue Australia, “The further down the line of succession, the more likely you are to have a more unique or untraditional name.”
