With Queen Elizabeth celebrating her 89th birthday today at Windsor Castle, there is much room for joy in the royal household. Having spent the weekend at Michael and Carole Middleton's Georgian Mansion in Berkshire for some much needed calm before the storm, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have moved back to their London base at Kensington Palace to prepare for the imminent arrival of the fourth-in-line to the throne, which today's unconfirmed reports reveal is due on Saturday.
Ardent royalists have already gathered eagerly outside the Lindo Wing at St.
Mary's Hospital in West London, where Kate will be attended by the same team who efficaciously delivered Prince George in July 2013, led by Royal Obstetrician Guy Thorpe-Beeston.
Among others, royalist pensioner Terry Hut, 79, from Weston-super-Mare, informed the BBC today that he is currently living rough on a wooden bench outside the Lindo hospital wing, and will continue to do so "until the baby comes out". Preparing for either outcome, Mr. Hut waits with "little prince" and "little princess" balloons and banners: "My wife tells me I'm mad. I have a waterproof outfit, a tarpaulin over the bench, decorated with union jacks. We call it the royal bench". The devoted supporter - also known as "The Union Jack Man" - resided for 13 days on the very same bench awaiting the arrival of Prince George.
With Kate recently fuelling speculation after allegedly purchasing a set of feminine paint samples from Oxford Interior Design Company, Annie Sloan, bookies are strongly backing the prospect of a royal baby girl. The instinct of the British betting public depicts a blonde-haired "Princess Alice", a foretelling that insiders say will cost bookmakers around £500,000 in pay-outs should the prophesy ring true.
Those considering much simpler bets will find odds of 8/15 for a girl, and 11/8 for a boy; however most, it seems, eagerly anticipate the imminent fourth-in-line to be the "little princess" to accompany the "little prince" George.
