Update Saturday 12:47 GMT: The dog was not Lupo, says the palace. Case closed.

This is not the royal drama we had been expecting, but crazy reports are filtering out of Kate Middleton’s family home, Bucklebury Manor, after a dog, which might just have been her pet cocker spaniel Lupo, got its head stuck in a gate.

According to a report in the Daily Mail, five firefighters from nearby Newbury and an animal rescue unit from Reading were summoned to the Middleton family's sprawling residence after a call was made to the headquarters of the Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue Service in Reading at 5.47pm.

Firefighters were unable to confirm whether Lupo was indeed the animal involved but a photographer told the Mail “that he heard someone shouting a name which sounded like 'Lupo'”.

'Soon after I heard a high-pitched scream which sounded like a dog is distress. I presume that was when they were pulling the poor animal out from between the bars of the gate,' said photographer Greg Blatchford.

However, according to a report in the Telegraph the dog freed itself before the emergency services arrived:

The 999 call came to the Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue Service in Reading at just before 6pm requesting the “animal rescue”.

"Our crew got to the manor but were told as they arrived at the gates that the dog, which had got its head stuck, had been freed just a few moments earlier so their services were not needed,” a spokesman said.

"The animal rescue unit was stood down before it reached Bucklebury and the appliance returned home."