Sophie Wessex health: 'What has just happened to me?' - Countess, 57, on memory loss

“And you’re standing there going, ‘Hang on, I thought I was a reasonably intelligent person’. What has just happened to me?”

The Countess added: “It’s like someone has 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.”

Author of The Women's Brain Book Dr Sarah McKay explains that memory loss and brain fog are very common experiences for women going through the menopause transition.

She explained that through her research, some women with brain fog worry that they are suffering from early-onset dementia, as they share many similar symptoms. But she goes on to say that brain fog is temporary and typically disappears after the transition is over, it is not an early sign of dementia.