Kate Middleton - Headwear Association Fascinated By 'Hat Person' Kate Middleton

Kate Middleton has beaten Lady GaGa and Sex And The City star Sarah Jessica Parker to win the 'Hat Person of the Year' title.

The Headwear Association named the Duchess of Cambridge as the winner of a online poll, which also included celebrity stylist Rachel Zoe. Kate got over 90 per cent of the votes from the organisation's members.

The Association, based in California, was founded in 1908 to promote hat-wearing all over the world on behalf of the headwear industry.

Kate's array of hats, which she is regularly photographed wearing during public engagements, saw her nominated for the title, having influenced a renewed enthusiasm for headwear among the hat-buying public.

Milliners are extremely grateful for 'the Kate effect', as Jenny Pfanenstiel, of Forme Millinery in Chicago said: "Kate has allowed American women to know what fascinators are and to feel more comfortable and confident about wearing hats in public."

Winners of the award in previous years include Johnny Depp, who has two rooms in his Paris apartment devoted to his hat collection, leading to rows with his partner Vanessa Paradis.

Meanwhile, sources close to Kate have indicated that she isn't about to try and steal the limelight in any other way this year by having a baby with husband Prince William. Insiders say that the couple are in no rush to start a family any time soon, with the Olympics, the Queen's Diamond Jubilee both coming up this year.