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Recent Acquisition! Tea-cups, Princess Charlotte, and the History of Birth

Recent acquisition! This cup and saucer set c. 1818 commemorates the death of Princess Charlotte after giving birth. The heir to the throne of England labored for 50 hours without intervention before delivering a large, stillborn son in 1817. Charlotte's physicians came from the non-interventionist school of #obstetrics, meaning they used no forceps to assist or hasten the child's stalled birth. Further, no destructive instruments (those that would have sacrificed the child to spare Charlotte) would have been used because of infant's royal status. In fact, physicians attempted to resuscitate the stillborn baby, thinking he was in a state...

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(Don't) Call the Midwife? A look at Royal Birth

In recently months, the media has been alight with news about the #RoyalBaby--the expected first child of Princess Kate (formerly Middleton) and Prince William. Hashtags like the one above are, of course, a little misleading; in many ways, the news that has been circulated, discussed, and endlessly retweeted has been less about the baby than his means of arriving here. Questions concerned Kate herself: How was the pregnancy going? Was there any morning sickness? Did the princess feel strange cravings? There were also more general (though often political) questions about succession if the new baby was a girl instead...

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