The unique trait Sophie Wessex shares with Meghan Markle—and only 1% of people have it

Sophie Wessex has a unique trait that she shares with Meghan Markle—she revealed this rare gift during a recent public engagement

Sophie, Countess of Wessex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex attend Royal Ascot Day 1 at Ascot Racecourse on June 19, 2018 in Ascot, United Kingdom.
(Image credit: Karwai Tang/WireImage/Getty Images)
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Sophie Wessex's unique trait has been revealed. The royal explained to some very special guests at a royal engagement that she's ambidextrous—a rare ability she shares with Meghan Markle!

Sophie Wessex's unique trait came in handy during a recent royal engagement at Buckingham Palace. Ambidexterity is the ability to use the right and left hands equally well. Whereas most people have a dominant hand, people like Sophie and Meghan Markle can use both!

This nifty ability was helpful in a bit of gardening when Sophie was helping schoolchildren add to the 1400 trees already planted at Buckingham Palace in honor of the Queen's Platinum Jubilee.

Sophie, Countess of Wessex smiles next to a tree plaque as she joins year four schoolchildren from Grange Park Primary School in Shropshire for the planting of an elm tree as part of the Queen's Green Canopy (QGC) initiative to mark the Queen's Platinum Jubilee, in the gardens of Buckingham Palace on March 31, 2022 in London, England.

(Image credit: Toby Melville/ WPA Pool/Getty Images)

During the labor-intensive engagement, the Countess said, "I'm left-handed. Well, I’m ambidextrous which means I can do things with both hands." She added, "This is going to be the best-planted tree here, how many trees do you think are here already?"

Although it's been said that Sophie Wessex has, "very big shoes to fill," as the Queen announced her prestigious new role, it's clear that she's certainly a very hands-on individual.

After the Countess and schoolchildren, who were from Grange Park Primary School in Shropshire, finished the task at hand, they headed to the Bow Room inside the palace.

Inside the Bow Room, the children were all gifted a commemorative Jubilee coin from the Royal Mint, as a thank you for their hard work and a memento of the big day.

A year four schoolchild from Grange Park Primary School in Shropshire receives a commemorative Jubilee fifty pence coin, denoting the seventy years of the Queen's reign, from Sophie, Countess of Wessex to mark the successful completion of pupils achieving Junior Forester Award, following the planting of an elm tree as part of the Queen's Green Canopy (QGC) initiative to mark the Queen's Platinum Jubilee, in the gardens of Buckingham Palace on March 31, 2022 in London, England.

(Image credit: Toby Melville/WPA Pool/Getty Images)

Learning that there were only 7,000 of the 50p coins minted, the Countess explained to them that these weren't your average coins. "So don’t put them in your piggy banks," she said, "don’t spend it, it is something really, really special to mark your special qualifications. If you have children and grandchildren one day, they will see it and know how really, really special it is."

Aoife Hanna
Aoife Hanna
Junior News Editor

Aoife is an Irish journalist and writer with a background in creative writing, comedy, and TV production.

Formerly woman&home's junior news editor and a contributing writer at Bustle, her words can be found in the Metro, Huffpost, Delicious, Imperica and EVOKE.

Her poetry features in the Queer Life, Queer Love anthology.

Outside of work you might bump into her at a garden center, charity shop, yoga studio, lifting heavy weights, or (most likely) supping/eating some sort of delicious drink/meal.