Edward and Sophie - Test Out Their Wedding Gifts

What do you give the royal couple who have everything? His n' hers saddles, of course.

Newlyweds the Earl and Countess of Wessex were eager to try their custom-made saddles for size with their respective horses, Tinkerbell and Sombre. Made by award winning Master saddler Peter Husbands, they were among the most expensive items on their wedding list.

Top quality bespoke saddles cost up to £2,000 and are shaped to fit the rider. The best are made of cowhide with a pigskin seat.

Sophie has a passion for horse riding which she shares with the Queen, Princess Anne and her daughter Zara Philips, who recently won the BBC Sports Personality of the Year award 2006. She regularly rides with the Queen when staying at Windsor and their early morning jaunts through the picturesque path that runs through Windsor Great Park are eagerly anticipated.
It is a chance for them to chat privately and informally, and onlookers say the Queen and her daughter-in-law are often seen laughing together.

Sophie is more accomplished in the saddle than Edward. Few of the Royal Family will let him forget his disastrous round in a charity show jumping event several years ago, when he knocked down five out of 25 relatively easy 3ft high fences. And he was lucky to escape so lightly - he clipped several more fences, which rattled but somehow stayed up.

As an embarrassed Edward returned to his team-mates, Princess Anne and the Duchess of York - who had both knocked own only one fence - they looked at him in disbelief!

All information was correct at time of publishing.