Kate Middleton Desperate To Look Sexy While Pregnant, Under Spell Of New Style Guru

Kate Middleton has returned to a schedule of public appearances after recovering from a debilitating, six-week bout with a severe pregnancy related nausea condition and, as she moves into the middle stages of her pregnancy, she apparently wants badly to amp up her sex appeal — and has come under the influence of a new palace stylist to help her send the royal hotness level rising.

While there is a limit to how sexy that a British royal is permitted to appear, Kate Middleton watchers were wowed when the 32-year-old Duchess of Cambridge stepped out in a black, sheer-paneled number on October 23 — after two days earlier sporting an unprecedented thigh-slit more suited for her reported role model Angelina Jolie than for a future Queen of England.

At the same time, rumors from inside royal circles say that Middleton, known officially as “Catherine” rather than “Kate” — has never fully recovered from her condition, known as hypermesis gravidarum, and that her grandmother-in-law Queen Elizabeth II simply ordered her out of bed and back to the grueling work of representing the British Royalty in public.

So perhaps the new sexy Kate Middleton look is intended as an act of defiance toward the Queen, who reportedly also recently ordered the Duchess to wear dresses with lowered hemlines more in keeping with the era when Elizabeth herself ascended to the throne — the early 1950s.

Or maybe Kate is driven to the more striking style by a lack of self-confidence caused by weeks in bed, a time when her condition surely made looking in the mirror an ordeal, given that she was so sick that she is said to have vomited more than 20 times every day. Her illness combined with the normal jolt to self-esteem that comes with the physical changes brought about by child-bearing may be pushing Kate to flaunt while she’s still got it.

In either case, Middleton owes her new look to a new style guru whose taste Kate so admires that she recently promoted the 27-year-old from personal assistant to full-fledged royal stylist.

Her name is Natasha Archer, and according to a report in Vanity Fair magazine, it was Archer — called “Tash” by Kate and other Kensington Palace staff — who selected the eye-catching attire sported by Kate Middleton at her two most recent sojourns into public view.

“Initially Kate was a reluctant fashion icon, but now she enjoys it. Tash helps source some of the clothes. She shops a lot for Kate online, and calls in hundreds of dresses for Kate to try on,” a friend of Archer’s revealed to the glossy mag. “She has persuaded Kate to take some more risks. The hemlines are shorter and Kate’s really pushing the boat out in the fashion stakes.”

No word yet on how Queen Elizabeth has responded to the new, sexy Kate Middleton look, but the smart money is on a new round of Royal Family tension ignited by the new Natasha Archer influence over the Duchess.