Kate Effect: Duchess of Cambridge Encouraged to Breastfeed in Public by TV's Beverley Turner

Kate Middleton has been widely credited with boosting sales for designers who have had their fashions showcased by her.

But now the Duchess of Cambridge, who is expecting her first child in July, has been urged to use the "Kate Effect" for a much more important cause.

TV and radio presenter Beverley Turner has asked the royal to help encourage women to breastfeed their babies.

"We need women with power and influence to get their milky bosoms out and feed [babies] in paparazzi pictures," she wrote in the Telegraph.

"Celebrity is depressingly powerful in dictating trends. What we need is the Duchess of Cambridge to get her royal orbs out to feed our future monarch. And to be applauded - not seethed at - for doing so."

Turner spoke out as statistics revealed that the number of new mothers attempting to breastfeed their babies had fallen in England for the first time in almost a decade.

Some 5,700 fewer women started breastfeeding their babies in 2012-13 compared to the previous year.

Turner, who has a son with Olympic rower James Cracknell, believes the numbers are decreasing because of powerful cultural forces and wants Middleton to reignite the trend.

It is not yet known whether Prince William's wife will breastfeed the future monarch but she will break with royal tradition by not employing a maternity nurse after the birth.

London-based political artist Kaya Mar recently unveiled a new painting which depicted the duchess breastfeeding the royal baby.

His rendering of Kate wearing a halo and smiling broadly as she nurses a crown-wearing child received a scathing reception.

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