Unborn Assemblages: Shifting Configurations of Embryonic and Foetal Embodiment

Abstract

When the pregnancy of Kate Middleton, the Duchess of Cambridge, was announced in early December 2012, the news received high attention in the news media and social media outlets. What was immediately noticeable about this coverage was the immediate configuring of a new personage: that of the ‘royal foetus’. Spoof Twitter accounts were set up on behalf of the ‘royal foetus’ purporting to be tweeting from ‘inside the royal womb’. Various comments were made by others on Twitter concerning the wealth and social standing that the ‘royal foetus’ already enjoyed. A commemorative plate in the style of royal souvenirs celebrating events such as births, weddings, and coronations was even mocked up, using a generic ultrasound image to denote this new individual in lieu of the traditional photograph.1