Princess heads betting

Press, 12 November 1981, Page 4

Princess heads betting

NZPA London British gamblers, who usually put a cool $l.l million on the annual “Miss World” competition, were putting their money instead on Princess Diana as a mother-to-be, said the nation’s betting houses yesterday. “Interest and betting on the competition are way down, and it is all because people are interested in the Princess and the Royal baby,” said a Coral’s bookmaker spokesman. “Princess Diana is the real ‘Miss World’ this year and has been putting the beauty contestants in the shade.” Mr Ron Pollard, the director of Ladbroke’s, another British betting firm, said: “It is very quiet this year, - slower than usual. We hope it will pick up on the day of the competition when the papers carry pictures of the girls.” “Miss Venezuela,” Pilin Leon, aged 18, and "Miss Brazil,” Maristella Silva Grazzia, aged 17, have been installed by Ladbroke’s as joint favourites for the competition tomorrow. Both are 64. '

In betting on the Princess's child, which would be second in line to the Throne after Prince Charles, a boy was the slight favourite and twins .a 25-1 long shot. Buckingham Palace yesterday denied that the Princess of Wales was suffering from Anorexia nervosa,, a disease affecting the appetite. “There is no truth at all in the report that she is suffering from Anorexia nervosa,” a palace spokesman told the NZPA. The Princess of W’ales did not attend a dinner in the Duchy of Cornwall with Prince Charles on Monday evening because she was not feeling well.