Queen To Light The Olympic Cauldron? Bookmakers Get Surge Of Bets

A Right Royal Gamble? Queen Now Favourite To Light Cauldron

Bookmakers have made Her Majesty a late favourite to light the Olympic cauldron at the opening ceremony for the 2012 London Games.

A spokesman for BetFred told The Huffington Post UK said a late surge of betting came on Friday morning, slashing the Queen's odds to 5-1, from 25-1.

"We've had around 400 bets on the Queen, you can never tell what sparks it. It might be a royal insider, or just a right royal gamble."

Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh with Lord Sebastian Coe and Olympic torch bearer Gina Macgregor at Windsor Castle

Rower Sir Steve Redgrave, who won gold at five consecutive Olympics, is still the favourite to light the cauldron, with bookmakers putting his chances at 10-11.

Sir Roger Bannister, who ran the first four-minute-mile, is also a hot favourite.

David Beckham and Tour de France winner Bradley Wiggins are also outside chances, according to the Guardian.

A Facebook group is also calling for controversial WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to light the torch, mocking up a picture of the Australian anti-secrecy campaigner holding the golden torch.

Assange is currently holed up in Ecuador's London embassy, where he is claiming political asylum to avoid extradition to Sweden on sex assault allegations.

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