Kate Middleton Fur Scandal: Duchess Falsely Accused, PETA Steps In

Kate Middleton, the Duchess of Cambridge, is caught in the middle of an odd fur scandal.

Now, the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), has stepped in to defend the Duchess.

Earlier this month, the Duchess was photographed wearing a coat lined with fake fur. But the International Fur Trade Federation (IFTF) was quick to falsely accuse Prince William's wife of wearing a classy fur-lined coat, even posting a photo of the Duchess on the official IFTF Facebook page.

PETA reportedly threatened IFTF with legal action, before the latter removed the image.

The Duchess' office has confirmed in a letter to PETA that 'Her Royal Highness was not wearing fur. The coat was not lined with fur.' We therefore insist that you remove the photo from your social media page and issue an immediate public retraction of your claim . . . to state that the Duchess is wearing fur is not only false but offensive . . . to portray the new Duchess wearing something so blatantly cruel and contrary to her country's values is insulting, PETA wrote in a letter to IFTF, as obtained by Hollywood.com.

This is not the first time the Duchess of Cambridge has made headlines with PETA. In September 2011, the Duchess and her husband received a letter from PETA president Ingrid Newkirk after news broke that William had given game birds to Prince Harry as a birthday present.

There is no honor in buying birds and reducing them, as if they were clay pigeons, to shooting targets . . . May I ask you to use your influence on the princes and ask them to reconsider this gift? You are in a unique position to be able to wield considerable influence over whether people everywhere view animals and their place in our world with kindness or blithely ignore their suffering, Newkirk wrote in a letter, addressed directly to the Duchess.

The Duchess and PETA made headlines again three months later, when she decided to drop out of the Royal family's annual Boxing Day pheasant hunt. The decision came after Newkirk wrote a letter, again, to the Duchess. According to PETA, the letter urged the Duchess to follow the footsteps of the late Princess Diana, who did not believe in hunting for sport.

Kate, adored by the public and Royal enthusiasts for her fashion forward style, has sported fake fur before. In early February, fresh from her Caribbean vacation, the 30-year-old resurfaced in London in a brown suede coat lined with synthetic fur. The Duchess paired her look with a Mulberry handbag, which is retailed at $1,050 USD, US Weekly reports.

In 2006, before her Duchess days, Kate also wore a fur hat at the Cheltenham Races.

In other Kate Middleton news, the question on everyone's mind has finally been answered. (No, nothing to do with the word baby). The Royal couple's new cocker spaniel has a name: Lupo.

Palace officials confirmed the name on Wednesday, after the Duchess revealed the pup's name to schoolchildren at Rose Hill Primary School in Oxford the day before.

Lupo the Royal dog was adopted back in January.