William, Duke of Cambridge, has caused something of a social media sensation today after posting an image that shows him receiving his first COVID vaccine. Many royal fans have fallen over themselves at the sight of our future king's 'ripped' arm (clearly there's a home gym at Kensington Palace). But the picture has also made some people realise something that many didn't realise before: Prince William is a leftie.
When you receive the COVID vaccine (or, indeed, when you receive any injection in the arm) you will be asked which hand you write with. This is in case the injection causes you extended pain or numbness, with the idea that you would be less inconvenienced if side effects impacted your non-dominant arm. So seeing William receive his injection in his right arm led to many people questioning if he is left-handed. And it's no secret: he is indeed. He has been seen signing visitor's books with his left hand, and acknowledged it once, saying that 'left-handers have better brains'. More on that later...
He is not the only member of the royal family to be left-handed. The Queen Mother was. So was King George VI, William's great-grandfather. But he is believed to have been conditioned out of it by his father, who forced him to learn to write with his right hand. Queen Victoria is thought to have had the same training. Prince George has also been photographed using his left hand dominantly, but we don't know if that's stuck as he has grown older.
Being left handed has an interesting history. There has long been an understanding that it somehow indicates intelligence - hence William's joke - but it's a myth. One study actually found a correlation between those who use their left hands and low IQs (sorry, William). And further back, it is linked with evil. Due to left-handed people being far less common that right-handed ones - about 90% of the population are right-handed - it led to alienation and distrust. The Latin word sinister (along with sinistra and sinastrum) originally meant 'left', before its connotations of evil and bad luck won out. That explains why past royals were trained out of their left handedness. Luckily, much of the stigma has dissolved by now, and items like scissors and notebooks have been adapted to be more usable for those who use their left hand. Bill Gates, Barack Obama and Oprah Winfrey are all lefties.
Is Prince William smarter than average? Is Prince William evil? In both cases, the answer's probably 'no'. But we'll keep an eye on Prince George...
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