Buckingham Palace has denied rumours that the Queen will stand down in her Christmas Day broadcast, after a Coral bookmaker said it was suspending bet following a flurry of "unusual" activity.
Coral said it had been offering odds of 10-1 that the monarch would stand down during the address, which goes out at 3pm in every Commonwealth nation, the Independent reported.
Sources told i100 that she was aware of six bets made over a short space of time, one of which was for 200 pounds, and said that it felt there was "no smoke without fire."
It was the Palace's policy not to comment on any bookmakers' work, sources further added.
But a royal source told that with the pre-recorded speech going out at the same time over a number of time zones, it would mean that Tuvalu would hear any news before London.