Brits to spend £243m celebrating birth of Royal baby The birth of the royal baby, who will be third in line to the throne after Prince Charles and Prince William, is the latest in a run of royal and sporting events. Prince William married Kate Middleton in April 2011 and the Queen marked her Diamond Jubilee in June last year. The London Olympics last summer added to the buzz. Richard Cope, trends director at market researcher Mintel, expected the duke and duchess's baby to have a positive impact on consumer spending, which only ticked up 0.1pc between January and March this year. "I think the biggest commercial opportunity is going to be with tourists," Mr Cope told Reuters, pointing to a 13pc rise in tourists arrivals in April. Mr Bamfield forecast 4.8m people would spend £62m on alcohol and £25m on food for parties. He expected £156m to be spent on commemorative china and other collectables, toys, books, DVDs and media. Mr Bamfield said another knock-on effect of the birth would be sales of baby products as other new parents copied the duchess. The "Kate-effect" is already well known as sales of anything the duchess wears or uses soars. A Dalmatian coat she wore last week to launch a new cruise ship sold out within an hour. "One of the biggest factors will be the unintentional royal brand endorsement," said Mr Bamfield. "The "Kate effect' has already taken the fashion world by storm...and this trend will follow for the infant's baby grows, rattles, first bike and so on."