Just Kate Middleton’s luck. No sooner does she become the future queen of England then she finds out she has a stripper in the family, who’s about to appear in Playboy magazine. You can bet Hef is having a field day with it.

The relative bringing such good graces to the family name is Katrina Darling, a second cousin once removed. She worked as a banker until she quit to focus on “burlesque” full-time.

Kate claims she never heard of her until UK tabloids discovered the connection. But Darling actually has stronger blood-ties to Kate than upstart Matthew Cawley has to the Earl of Grantham. A third cousin once removed, Matt’s still going to inherit Downtown Abbey.

That just about exhausts our knowledge of royal succession but suffice to say, the palace can’t just blow off Darling as someone with no ties to the crown.

Hef is so excited, he’s already Tweeting up the royal connection. “Katrina Darling, the second cousin of British royal Kate Middleton, is causing a sensation in the September issue of Playboy,” he wrote.

During the Queens Diamond Jubilee in June, Darling caused an uproar when she was filmed stripping to “God Save the Queen” in a London pub.

Kate and Katrina haven’t met yet, according to British tabloids, but Kate will have a chance to get to know her–intimately–when Wiliam’s copy of Playboy arrives in the mail. Plain brown wrapper, of course.