Nefertiti was the main royal wife of
Akhenaten
, she had produced six daughters , but no son , and although she never lost her prime position as 'great royal wife' , a second wife of Akhenaten had appeared on the scene at Akhetaten . It has often been speculated that she was a Mitannian princess , but her name Kiya is a perfectly normal Egyptian one and it does not indicate that she was of a foreign origin . She was given the title 'Greatly Beloved Wife of the King' , which distinguishes her from any other ladies in the royal harem . Shortly before the 12th year of the King's reign , she suddenly disappears from the monuments , and her name was erased from the inscriptions and replaced by those of Akhenaten's daughters , most frequently that of Meritaten . Since even the funerary equipment prepared for her , including a magnificent coffin , was adapted for a different royal person , it is most likely that Kiya at some point fell from grace , perhaps because she had become too much of a rival to Nefertiti after she had given birth perhaps to a male heir . There is no hard evidence to support this opinion , but a single inscription from about this time reads 'the King's bodily son ,
his beloved , Tutankhaten' , who is the future Tutankhamun , who was almost certainly a son of Akhenaten but not of Nefertiti .
Nefertiti's influence increased even further during the later part of the reign , when she became the official co-regent of her husband as Neferneferuaten with the throne name 'Ankh (et) kheperure' . Her role as queen consort was taken over by her eldest daughter , Merutaten . Whether or not Nefertiti survived Akhenaten , who died aging 17 , is uncertain .
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