Kate Middleton reveals her new puppy is called 'Lupo'

Britain's Catherine, the Duchess of Cambridge, let slip the name of her new puppy during a visit at a school in Oxford.

LONDON // It is a secret that Britain's royals have kept buried for months, but Prince William's wife Kate Middleton has finally revealed the name of the couple's new puppy: Lupo.

Catherine, the Duchess of Cambridge, let the name slip when she was speaking to children during a visit to a primary school in Oxford, in southern England, her official office Clarence House confirmed.

"The name is Lupo," said a Clarence House spokesman.

He did not give any further details about why the couple had chosen the name for the male cocker spaniel, but it means wolf in Italian.

Royal officials revealed on February 1 that William, second in line to the British throne, and Kate had bought the dog a few months earlier through a family connection.

It is believed that the pet is living at their home near the RAF Valley base on Anglesey, north-west Wales, where William, 29, has been working as a Royal Air Force search and rescue helicopter pilot for more than a year.

Reports said the dog's father was a pet belonging to Kate's mother Carole Middleton.

The puppy will have been keeping Kate company as William is currently serving a six-week tour of duty in the Falkland Islands in the South Atlantic.

RAF rules mean that Kate, who married William in April 2011, was not able to join her husband on the posting to the remote archipelago, which is controlled by Britain but also claimed by Argentina.