As you may have heard, there’s a new arrival in the royal family. Or maybe that should be: a New Arrival in the Royal Family. From what I heard on the radio yesterday some people are very excited (or, again, maybe that should read Very Excited) about this. A royal baby, on Saint George’s Day. I heard two rather emotional women on a news bulletin yesterday who had been waiting outside St Mary’s Hospital in Paddington for two weeks for the happy news. That’s 14 days longer than the Duchess of Cambridge spent at the hospital before the birth of her third child, another boy. Our two children were also born in St Mary’s Paddington, but there was nobody waiting outside for a fortnight beforehand.

The arrival of the new prince has prompted speculation about names, and as usual the bookies are taking bets on the possibilities. According to this betting comparison site, Arthur is the favourite. You can get it at 5/2. Put £20 on it and you’ll win £50 (and get your original £20 back) if the royal couple choose to call their third child Arthur. You can get James at 4/1, Albert at 5/1 and Philip at 6/1.

I am reminded of similar speculation back in 1982, when the proud father of the new infant, Prince William himself, was born. One of my dad’s workmates, at whatever building site he was working on at the time, decided to have a punt. The name “Wayne” was being offered at 50-1. “Prince Wayne, at 50/1,” he suggested, “It must be worth a few quid.” My dad tried to persuade him that it wasn’t, but as far as I know he put the bet on anyway. This story has been told often enough in our household for it to be a catchphrase, and I repeated it happily this morning over breakfast when the 7.30 news discussed the likelihood of Arthur, James and Albert. “Wayne? Must be worth a few quid.”

That betting comparison site tells me that Wayne is available now at odds of 300/1, but it might as well be a million to one. It’s still not worth a punt. Apparently the bookies got it right with the first two children: George was the frontrunner back in 2013 and it was Charlotte in 2015. They’re probably right this time as well, so if you fancy a flutter Arthur might be your best option. Prince George and Princess Charlotte will not be addressing their new sibling as Wayne.