Marie Claire SA seemed to have scooped the bragging rights of being the first magazine to photograph Kate Middleton for its August cover.

The perfectly posed image of Middleton wearing a brightly-coloured Clive Rundle design is accompanied by a headline which shouts: "Kate Middleton: Fashion's New Royal Icon wears SA's Best Local Designs."

But at the bottom of the cover, an asterisk indicates the truth: "Of course she doesn't. But she should."

Editor Aspasia Karras told The Telegraph that the cover was an expression of fan art. "The cover is actually a hyper-real illustration of Kate, meant to be a fan art tribute to fashion's new royal icon."

Like many other magazines around the world, Marie Claire would just love to be the first to scoop an exclusive cover shoot of the duchess.

Middleton has famously declined to pose for any magazine cover – even American Vogue.

Inside the magazine, Middleton is "snapped" in a series of pictures – all dressed in locally designed garb by five other illustrators.

Some have called the "fan art tribute” misleading.

Verashni Pillay, deputy editor at the Mail & Guardian Online, tweeted: "@marieclaire_sa July cover irks me: South Africans don't seem to be good enough for our mags. Now we're photoshopping their faces out.[sic]"

Another twitter user answered Pillay with this tweet: "Think it's a shocking idea to graft Kate Middleton's head on to another body. Erodes readers already fragile trust in the visual.[sic]"

This isn’t the first time Middleton has been on the receiving end of a photoshopping brush. Last month The New Republic also featured Prince William’s wife on the cover, albeit unflatteringly – with rotting yellow teeth and a frayed British flag behind her with the words: “Something’s Rotten: The Last Days of Britain.”