Sunday, July 15, 2012

Shaking off the shackles of Royal decorum: Kate Middleton's raunchy cousin is set to strip for Playboy

Katrina Darling, 21, recently quit her job as an analyst at Barclays bank in London to concentrate on her career as an exotic dancer 


Her cousin the Duchess of Cambridge is a paragon of elegance and politeness, but racy burlesque dancer Katrina Darling has shunned the shackles of decorum and is getting ready to strip for Playboy.

The 21 year old distant cousin of Kate Middleton has been approached by the US adult magazine to pose naked on the front cover and Miss Darling has accepted their offer.

Miss Darling will be featured in an eight-page pictorial in the September issue which will hit the newsstands at the end of August, Playboy magazine confirmed. 

The brunette - who by day works as a banker at Barclays bank - is originally from Sunderland, however, she recently moved to London to pursue her career as an exotic dancer. 

Last month, she raised eyebrows when she performed a risqué version of God Save the Queen for at Whiskey Mist nightclub in Mayfair- a favourite haunt of Princes William and Harry.

At the start of the act, Miss Darling donned a figure hugging red corset teamed with a union jack skirt and small crown perched on her head. But as the anthem got going she stripped off completely, revealing bright red nipple tassels and a thong.

Miss Darling is not shy about her late night escapades and claims the team who work alongside her in the private wealth management division treat her hobby as a source of amusement.

In March, she said: 'Everybody is really supportive. They think it's a bit of fun.' And her Playboy debut is bound to go down a storm in the States, where Kate Middleton and the Royals are adored.

Despite this, the provocative performer has never met her cousin, who one day will be Queen.

Miss Darling is Kate Middleton's second cousin once removed and claimed that she only found out about the family link when the engagement was announced in November 2010.

 The 21 year old, who has never made any attempt to contact the Middletons, insisted that she had been a burlesque dancer for years and the recent success and attention is just a happy coincidence.

Speaking about her latest God Save the Queen routine, Miss Darling claimed that she was not cashing in on her royal connections and just wanted to do something fun to mark the Queen's 60th anniversary on the throne, adding:'I just wanted to do something special for the jubilee and decided on burlesque'.