Surge of bets that the Queen will abdicate in Xmas Day message

A BOOKMAKER l ast night stopped taking bets on the Queen announcing her abdication i n her Christmas Day message – after receiving a ‘rush’ of interest from punters.

Coral had been offering odds of 10-1 on the Queen announci ng her abdication i n the Christmas broadcast.

The company said it received a flurry of interest before it suspended betting yesterday, including one wager of £200.

Coral – which has also suspended betting on the Queen standing down in January – insisted its decision was not a marketing stunt, saying: ‘These gambles tend to resurface, espe- cially around the Royal Family.’ But the royal household dismissed the speculation, and other bookmakers said they had not seen the same rush of activity.

Bookmaker William Hill said they had not taken any bets on the Queen stepping down. However, a spokesman confirmed they have cut the odds on the Queen announcing any time before midnight on December 31 that she is abdicating from 15-1 to 5-1, ‘just in case there’s something in the rumour’.

A spokesman for Ladbrokes said: ‘We do not offer odds on the Queen to abdicate as many people will interpret that as you taking bets on her death. Something which is quite clearly incredibly distasteful.’ But a Coral spokesman said: ‘As far as we are concerned, there’s no smoke without fire when bets like this come through all in succession.

‘So we have decided to be safe rather than sorry and pull the plug on the market. The last royal gamble when we closed the book it was about [Kate’s] second pregnancy and that was right.’

However, a source close to the royal household said they would ‘point people to the two declarations that the Queen made first of all on her 21st birthday and secondly on her coronation on the second of June 1953’. In a speech in 1947 on her 21st birthday, the Queen said: ‘I declare before you all that my whole life, whether it be long or short, shall be devoted to your service.’

And in 1953 she said: “I have in sincerity pledged myself to your service, as so many of you are pledged to mine. Throughout all my life and with all my heart I shall strive to be worthy of your trust.’

The source added: ‘The message on Christmas Day is not just for people in the UK, it’s for the entire Commonwealth.’

The Queen’s Christmas Day speech i s pre- recorded and broadcast at 3pm local time in all parts of the Commonwealth – meaning any major announcement would be heard in Tuvalu before anywhere else.

‘No smoke without fire’