Duke and Duchess welcome new arrival: Kate and Wills adopt pet cocker spaniel but the name remains a mystery

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have welcomed a new addition to their family -  an adorable three-month old puppy.

The couple acquired the male cocker spaniel in early December and have been happily settling him in at their rented farmhouse in North Wales.

Remarkably, however, William and Kate have given palace aides strict instructions not to publicly reveal the name of their pet, arguing that it is a ‘private’ matter.

‘He is a private pet and they do not want his name to be made public although the couple are happy to confirm that they do, indeed, have a new dog,’ a spokesman at St James’s Palace, the couple’s London headquarters, intoned.

Royal sources say the black pup is ‘a few months old’ and comes from a litter bred by Kate’s mother, Carole Middleton, who adores the breed.

‘I don’t know whether the Middleton family dog is a boy or a girl, but the Duke and Duchess’s puppy is the result of the family dog breeding with one belonging to another breeder,’ said an aide.

The new dog is the couple’s first together and replaces Prince William’s black labrador, Widgeon, who died about two years ago.

Over the years, the Royal Family have embraced dogs as their favoured

 Formal portraits from the 17th century onwards show kings, queens and their children happily posing with their beloved animals, from pugs to greyhounds, King Charles spaniels to corgis.

Some pets have even merited their own portraits, and, as in many households, were considered very much members of the family.

 When Queen Victoria’s beloved collie, Noble, died at Balmoral in 1887, he was buried in the grounds of the castle and given his own gravestone, which read:

'Noble by name by nature noble too

Faithful companion sympathetic true

His remains are interred here'

A terrier named Caesar belonging to King Edward VII was given even greater status when, having outlived the king, he walked behind His Majesty’s coffin in the funeral procession.

The current Queen is, of course, associated with the corgi.

The breed was introduced to the Royal Family by her father, King George VI, in 1933 when he bought a corgi called Dookie from a local kennels.

For her eighteenth birthday, The Queen was given a corgi named Susan from whom numerous successive dogs were bred.

Some corgis were mated with dachshunds (most notably Pipkin, who belonged to Princess Margaret) to create ‘dorgis’.

At present, The Queen owns three corgis, Monty, Willow and Holly and three dorgis, Cider, Candy and Vulcan, who travel with her everywhere, with Her Majesty looking after them herself as much as possible.

Tradition: The current Queen is associated with the corgi;

Other members of the Royal Family own dogs of various breeds. The Duchess of Cornwall owns two Jack Russell terriers, Tosca and Rosie, and recently acquired a rescue pup called Beth from Battersea Dogs and Cats Home.

Spaniels are one of the oldest known breeds of dogs and are believed to have to come to the UK during Caesar’s invasion in 55 and 54 BC.

It is assumed they originated from Spain as the word spaniel is believed to have been derived from Hispania or possibly from the French phrase chiens de l’Espagnol (dog of Spain).

Spaniels were initially bred to flush game out of dense brush but by the late 1600’s had become specialized into water and land breeds.

The difference between cocker and springer spaniels is that the former are smaller, more compact, dogs and can have marginally more placid temperaments.

As a breed cocker spaniels have friendly, affectionate, happy natures and considered to be wonderful family pets.

The arrival of the couple’s anonymous new pooch is particularly timely as he will help keep Kate, 30, company while her husband is posted to the Falkland Islands for six weeks.

Search and Rescue pilot William, 29, will fly out tonight with his Sea King crew on a routine deployment to the region, leaving his wife on her own.

She is expected to spend more time in London while he is away and will largely live with her pup at Kensington Palace, the couple’s London base.

Last night betting firm Ladbrokes were offering odds of 10/1 on the dog being called Charlie, 33/1 on Bouncer and 66/1 on Fenton, after the now world-famous hound seen chasing deer in Richmond Park, which became a YouTube sensation.

The pup has not been formally revealed in public yet but has been seen being walked by the couple on beaches near their Anglesey home.

The Middleton family already have a young female cocker spaniel, Ella, whom they acquired from a friend at just eight weeks old. It is not known whether Ella is the mother of Kate and William’s new pup, however.

'I would never do a full frontal’: Amanda Seyfried opens up about playing a porn star as she shows off her girlie side in flirty magazine shoot;

She has taken on a number of roles with her latest seeing her play infamous pornographic actress Linda Lovelace.

But in her latest magazine shoot for the March issue of Glamour US Amanda Seyfried has revealed she would not go all the way when it comes to stripping off.

Speaking about Linda Lovelace’s film Deep Throat she said: ‘What surprised me is the amount of pubic hair! I’m pretty sure I would never do a full frontal in a movie—for personal reasons, I wouldn’t really want to show that.’

 The 26-year-old, who has been working hard on the set of the biopic in recent weeks, also spoke out about sleeping with men.

She said: ‘I’m terrified of being promiscuous. I don’t like the feeling you get when it’s not something that you truly want to do, and I hate the emotional abuse you give yourself afterward.’

‘It’s just uncomfortable when you’re with somebody and you’re like, “I don’t really know if I’m even comfortable with this. Why did I? Eww!”

In the shoot Amanda, who found fame as a ditzy plastic on Mean Girls, shows off her star power in a series of glamorous shots.

In one scene she is seen sitting on the edge of a diving board in a floral Prada bodysuit with red stilettos by Jimmy Choo and a full face or make-up including bright red lips.

Another shot sees the actress sat on a bar painting her nails wearing a super short pink dress by Cushnie et Ochs.

The actress also dons a lime studded dress by Versace as she lies on a decadent bed posing with a telephone.

 In the interview as well as speaking out about porn the actress discusses her love life.

Fans will no doubt be flabbergasting to learn that Amanda,who starred alongside Justin Timberlake in the film In Time, has revealed she would never date him.

She said: 'Oh, I think any female that meets him at first is like, "I want to date you." He seems so perfect, but you get to know him, and he’s a good pal. He’ll tell you what he really feels. But, you know, he’s really famous, which has its downsides.'

Amanda also spoke about her ex-boyfriend Dominic Cooper and suggested she would like then to get back together.

When she was asked if he was the last person she loved she gushed: 'My God, yeah. He was my last real boyfriend. We still joke about having kids, like, "If it doesn’t work out with other people, we might as well just have a child." And there’s a part of that that feels…possible.'

Not a winning combination! Rihanna steps out with sweat patches and a see-through top

She's known for her risque outfits that show off her enviable figure.

But Rihanna was well and truly let down last night when she displayed sweat patches .

As if her black, see-through, midriff-baring top wasn't enough, the 23-year-old singer's perspiration was unmistakable after a hard nigh partying.

 The popstar's outfit at the Greystone Manor club in West Hollywood was outdated and mismatched with the top featuring a turtleneck.

She added a tiny black miniskirt, a comoflauge-patterned trucker hat and Louboutin heels to the ensemble.

Her curly hair was hidden beneath the hat and she sported a lashing of bright red lipstick.

Rihanna eventually covered up her top half in an oversized black leather jacket.

The club is the same venue the star was seen partying at last week when her abusive ex-boyfriend Chris Brown was there.

 The close encounter initially sparked rumours of a possible reunion, however it later emerged that Brown was accompaied by his new girlfriend, Karrueche Tran and the two singers were seen leaving the venue separately.

Earlier this month, Chris's representation was forced to insist that the pair were 'just friends,' after several insiders said that they would 'meet up very casually' and that Rihanna 'comes to see Brown anytime she's in L.A.'

'He and Rihanna are just friends,' Chris's rep told ABC News. 'He is with his girlfriend, Karrueche, and is not cheating.'

Speculation that Rihanna had rekindled her romance with the R&B singer mounted even further following a series of cryptic messages on Twitter late last month.

 While the pair didn't directly tweet each other, they both wrote declarations of love which appeared to be in response to one another.

The Kiss Kiss star kicked off proceedings with a tweet saying: 'Love U more than u know!'

To which the Barbadian beauty appeared to reply two minutes later, saying: 'I'll always love u #1LOVE.'

The couple, who dated for two years, split in 2009 after Brown violently assaulted the singer, for which he was convicted and sentenced to five years of probation and six months of community service.

In February of that year, the Grammy-winner was scheduled to perform at the Grammy Awards, but had to cancel at the last minute due to the altercation with her then-boyfriend.

A leaked photograph from the Los Angeles Police Department showed Rihanna with a bruised and beaten face, which she later spoke about on US show Good Morning.

Earlier this year, Rihanna relaxed the conditions of a restraining order against Brown.