The Countess of Wessex says women should celebrate the menopause – but revealed it left her feeling like someone had taken her brain out at a royal engagement.
Sophie, 56, added she thinks the life change should be talked about more openly to help get over the stigma.
She also believes more should be done to educate girls about periods and the menopause to break the taboos.
Sophie said: “Really, we should be celebrating the fact that we don’t have to have periods any more.
“It should be a liberation, but it feels like a shackle.
“It’s described as something incredibly negative.”
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She added: “I go back to education; how much are young girls actually told at the beginning?
“When we’re told that we’re going to begin our periods, are we told that they’re going to end as well?”
Talking about her experience of going through the menopause, Sophie admitted her mind went blank at an awkward moment while representing the Royal Family. She said: “You know, in the middle of a presentation when you suddenly can’t remember what you were talking about... try being on an engagement when that happens – your words just go.
“And you’re standing there and going, ‘hang on, I thought I was a reasonably intelligent person, what has just happened to me?’.
“It’s like somebody’s just gone and taken your brain out for however long before they pop it back in again and you try and pick up the pieces and carry on.”
The countess was talking in a video call to celebrate becoming patron of Wellbeing of Women, a charity that works to tackle the taboos surrounding periods, the menopause and pregnancy.
She said she is “delighted” to take on the role, adding: “It’s up to us to... inform women about that knowledge, about those choices they have, in a way that is bringing the subject into the open and not making it some kind of behind closed doors conversation that people have to have.
“The menstrual cycle, periods, the menopause, having babies... We all talk about having babies, but nobody talks about periods [or] the menopause.
"Why not? We need to... say ‘let’s talk about this’.”
The countess, who has two children with husband Prince Edward – James, Viscount Severn, 13, and Lady Louise Windsor, 17 – was joined by Sarah Jane Cale, of Positive Menopause, a website offering advice to menopausal women.
Around one in four has considered leaving their job after reaching the menopause.
Sarah Jane said: “Employers need... to be given the information to be able to support... women and men of a certain age, to be able to encourage them that they are still a valuable member of the workforce.”
