Fake Kate Middleton Cover Leaves Readers Angry

A "fake" Kate Middleton cover for Marie Claire magazine in South Africa has left readers confused, and angry. Smiling brightly and wearing a multi-coloured dress, the Duchess of Cambridge graces the cover of the magazine - but how did they get her to pose, considering she reportedly turned down Vogue last year?

The answer is simple: she didn't agree to appear. The cover photo is fake, or as Marie Claire writer Marisa Crous puts it "A fan art tribute". Crous is quoted by Yahoo News as saying, "We were so inspired by her fairy-tale wedding and her life as a modern-day princess, which is why we elected Kate Middleton as our cover star for the August issue". The dress doesn't appear to be something that Kate would normally wear, and the face has actually been added to someone else's body - which is made clear in a tiny asterisk at the end of the headline. Last year, a royal representative told E! News, "Both William and Kate feel it would be wrong for Kate to promote herself as a fashion or style icon. That's not what they are about and they take their royal duties far too seriously to, in one sense, trivialize them".

It's the third time this month that Middleton's face has been digitally tampered with in print. New Republic magazine photoshopped a set of decaying teeth into the Duchess' smile to accompany their headline "Something's Rotten: The last days of Britain", while the Daily Mail recently gave her a digital makeover complete with green eye-shadow. Of the latest image, one reader on Marie Claire's website, "I'm not really a fan of this idea.Will not be buying this magazine!", while another raged, "She didn't actually pose for the cover? How is that a good thing? Aren't you cheating your readers as well as your cover subject?".