By Annie Rose Ramos

Kate Middleton’s Cousin Katrina Darling on Cover of Playboy

                                                          (Image Credit: Courtesy Playboy/Marlena Bielinska)

Kate Middleton, the Duchess of Cambridge, comes from a very talented family.
Take sister Pippa, for example, who launched an online party magazine, Party Times. Then there is James, Kate’s younger brother, who dropped out of Edinburgh University to start a bakery business, Cake Kit Company. And finally we have Katrina Darling, the 22-year-old second cousin to the Duchess of Cambridge, once removed.
Katrina is a burlesque dancer and will be on the cover of Playboy‘s upcoming September 2012 issue. Featured in an eight-page pictorial inside the magazine, the burlesque star, reminiscent of a Dita von Teese with long dark locks and a sultry look, made her mark on the performance world when she began performing her own burlesque show, “God Save The Queen.”
Darling told Playboy during an interview for the September issue, “burlesque is a platform for me to explore these kinds of things. The more into it the audience is, says Katrina, the more into it I am.”
Up until Kate Middleton and Prince William were getting married in April 2011, Darling had no idea about her relation to the Duchess of Cambridge. A member of the U.K. press called Darling to inform her of her famous cousin. Darling told Playboy of her surprise when she discovered her family lineage. “It was the most ridiculous thing I ever heard,” she said.  “It’s not every day something like that happens.”
Darling has never met her cousin, according to the Daily Mail.
Originally from the city of Sunderland in England, Darling’s “God Save The Queen” act features a costume that flaunts her figure and her multiple tattoos, equipped with a red corset, gold tassels and a small crown.
Theresa Hennessey, vice president of public relations for Playboy Enterprises, says of Darling’s upcoming Playboy debut, “the magazine always looks for relevant pop culture figures, we look for beautiful women that are relevant in pop culture. Darling is beautiful, she has been in the news. She is someone I think our readers would be interested in seeing.”
An excited Darling tweeted late last week, “counting the days for Playboy to come out!”
Darling has been traveling the performance stages and cabaret clubs throughout Europe and now America. She has upcoming shows in South Beach, Fla., and New York City.
She did not respond to an ABC News request for comment.