Between the tabloid covers, TV segments, and general influx of media coverage (including on our own site!), you’ve probably read a lot about the Royal Baby, as Kate Middleton’s July 13 due date looms. Here are 10 fun facts you may have missed.
- The royal birth notice will be posted just inside on the gates of Buckingham palace. But, for the first time, the birth announcement will also be released via social media.
- Bookies have placed odds on the royal baby name: they like Alexandra.
- Bookies are also offering odds of 4-1 that the baby inherits the recessive red hair gene, à la Harry.
- The baby will be heir to the throne (third in line after Prince Charles and Prince William), regardless of whether it is a girl or a boy. In April of this year, the UK changed its rights of succession, ending centuries of male primogeniture.
- The last time a still-serving monarch was alive at the birth of his or her great-grandchild in direct succession was 120 years ago when Queen Victoria’s great-grandson, the future Edward VIII, was born. He abdicated the throne.
- Prince William plans to be in the delivery room when his wife gives birth.
- The Cambridges aim to move with their bouncing baby to a newly refurbished apartment in Kensington Palace in the fall. They haven’t announced where they will take the baby after leaving the hospital.
- Some economists expect the birth to prompt a $380 million boost to the U.K. economy.
- The composer Paule Mealor who wrote a piece of music for the royal wedding has now written a lullaby for the Cambridges’ baby called “Sleep On.”
- William will take two weeks of paternity leave. We do not yet know how much time Kate will take off from her royal duties.