Royal baby news: Duke and Duchess of Cambridge's third child could give UK economy huge £87m boost

The birth of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s third child will boost the economy by up to £87 million, analysts said today.

As William and Kate settled down to life as a family of five at Kensington Palace, forecasters said the latest addition to the royal family would stimulate a welcome mini-surge in spending on the High Street after a grim winter for retailers.

The prince, who is fifth in line to the throne, was born yesterday at the Lindo Wing of St Mary’s Hospital in Paddington, weighing 8lb 7oz, and gun salutes were set to be fired today from the Tower of London and Hyde Park to mark his birth.

Today, bookies shortened their odds from 3-1 to 2-1 on him being named Arthur. Betfair said James and Philip were second favourites at 4-1, after a flurry of punts on James resulted in the odds being cut from 5-1 this morning.

Louis, the new Royal baby - in pictures

1/23

Professor Joshua Bamfield, director of the Centre for Retail Research, said he expected the impact of the new arrival to be less than for Kate’s first two babies, but still significant.

He estimated that £28 million extra would be spent on commemorative memorabilia such as mugs and plates; £30 million on extra food and drink as royal fans celebrated the birth; £9 million on books and newspapers — including souvenir editions — and £20 million on “copycat” clothes and other infant goods.

Nottinghamshire based G H Hurt & Son, which made the £69.95 merino wool shawl that the baby was swaddled in when the couple emerged from St Mary’s Hospital yesterday, is already braced for a global surge in orders.

After Prince George was wrapped in a similar shawl in July 2013, orders poured in from as far as Australia and America, resulting in an eight-week waiting list.

Other companies expected to benefit include baby and maternity products retailer JoJo Maman Bébé and high street chain Mothercare.

Fresh: the royal baby (Photo by Chris Jackson/Getty Images)
Getty Images

Professor Bamfield said: “These figures are not exactly going to make the Chancellor of the Exchequer change his economic forecasts, but after a fairly unpleasant three months of fairly bad retail news at least it’s a bit of good news at last.”

Another consultancy, Brand Finance, put the boost lower, at £50 million, but said the combined “royal glow” of a birth and a wedding — Prince Harry is due to marry Meghan Markle is due on May 19 at Windsor Castle — could add more than £1 billion to spending in the coming 12 months.

Chief executive David Haigh said: “The third royal birth is — understandably — attracting less attention than the first two, and is additionally somewhat overshadowed by the upcoming wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.”

However, he said the global impact of the younger generation of royals was still hugely underestimated in Britain. “They are attractive, likeable young people doing happy things. It is a bit like a Shakespearean play, it is all about growth and rebirth.”

London Landmarks light up for arrival of the Royal Baby - In pictures

1/11

Howard Archer, chief economic adviser to forecasters the EY ITEM Club, said the combination of royal events, warmer weather and the World Cup could help growth bounce back after the grim first quarter overshadowed by snowy weather.

He said he expected a GDP growth figure of just 0.2 per cent between January and March to be revealed by the Office for National Statistics on Friday, but an acceleration to 0.5 per cent between April and June.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in