Kate told a group of children receiving art therapy from one of her charities the moniker of her cocker spaniel during a visit to their primary school.

There has been much speculation about what the duke and duchess had called their new male pet, which became a member of their family before Christmas.

The puppy has been keeping Kate, 30, company while her husband William, 29, has been working as an RAF Search and Rescue co-pilot in the Falkland Islands.

The royal told the children about the name of her dog, which is believed to be around four months old, when she visited Rose Hill Primary School in Oxford to join an art therapy session run by The Art Room, a charity which has Kate as its patron.

The organisation uses sessions of drawing and painting to help children with issues like low self esteem or shyness, and whenever a child attends a class they can cuddle one of the many soft toys in the dedicated art space.

Lisa Hancock, manager of the school's art room, said the children had picked out a toy dog for the duchess before she arrived.

She added: "The children had chosen a dog for her to cuddle during the lesson. She said 'what's it called?' and we said 'would you like to give it a name?' and she said 'I will call it after my dog'."

Ms Hancock, 37, could not remember the moniker only saying it began with an L, but a St James's Palace spokesman later confirmed it as Lupo.

The name is an Italian word meaning wolf and is also used as a surname in other parts of the world. Lupo's father is reportedly a pet owned by Kate's mother Carole Middleton.