Kate Middleton's saucy Sisterhood

Oct 10, 2007, 12:00 GMT

The former rowing team of Britain's Prince William's girlfriend, Kate Middleton, have posed for a raunchy calendar for charity.

The Sisterhood - who raised over £100,000 for charity when they rowed across the Channel this summer - posed as different athletes in the 12 pictures, but had their sporting costumes painted directly onto their naked bodies.

They appear as cricketers, rowers, tennis players, runners and skiers in the pictures, and are joined by sporting celebrities including former tennis player Andrew Castle, England cricketer Freddie Flintoff and athlete Iwan Thomas.

One of the group's founders, Emma Sayle, said: "The painting was so cleverly done that you didn't actually feel as though you were naked. It was only when you looked down you thought, 'Oh my God! I'm not wearing any clothes!'"

Kate trained with the Sisterhood for three months before their Channel race, but pulled out two weeks before the event on the grounds of security.

At the time, a spokesperson said: "Kate Middleton has withdrawn from the race due to security issues surrounding the recent media circus."

Now the 25-year-old has had to pull out of a 160-mile paddle down the Amazon in South America, on the same grounds.

Emma added: "There's no way Kate will be allowed to do the Amazon race. It was ridiculous she was taken from our dragon boat crew on the grounds of security. And it seems even more ridiculous to stop her putting her training to good use in America."

(C) BANG Media International