Egyptian Queen. Tiye was the daughter of Yuya, the King's Lieutenant of Chariots and Master of the Horse, and Thuyu the Superintendent of the Harem of Min of Akhmim and of Amun of Thebes. Tiye was also the niece of Mutemwiya, a wife to Thutmose IV making her Amenhotep III's first cousin and sufficiently royal to be his Great Wife. Tiye's parentage is a subject of frenzied debate. She was probably not full Egyptian. Her mother had Egyptian features, but her father did not - their tomb and mummies were found intact in 1904. Some scholars speculate that her father may have been Syrian while others believe that he had sub-Saharan African origins. Tiye married at about age 12. She was frequently shown beside Amenhotep in sculptures and reliefs created during his reign. Amenhotep III devoted a number of shrines to her, built her a palace, as well as an artificial lake. She bore the pharoah at least seven children including Thutmose, Sitamen, Isis, Henut-Taneb, Nebetah, Beketaten, and Amenhotep who is better known to history as Akhenaten. Tiye appeared to have been a power behind the throne. She acted as her husband's advisor and confidant, and played an active role in foreign relations. She was the first Egyptian queen to have her name included on official records. Amenhotep III died in year 38 of his reign. Tiye remained visible during the reign of her son, the heretic pharoah Akhenaten. Akhenaton built his mother a beautiful shrine during his reign. Her son's correspondence spoke of Tiye's continued political influence. In an inscription estimated to year 12 of Akhenaten's reign she is mentioned for the last time. She is thought to have died shortly after. Tiye is believed to have been buried in Akhenaten's royal tomb at Amarna alongside her son and grandaughter Meketaten who apparently died in childbirth about the same time as her grandmother. A fragment from the tomb was recently identified as being from her sarcophagus. Her burial shrine was discovered in the Valley of the Kings in the notoriously mysterious tomb KV55 while ushabti - funerary figurines - belonging to her have been found in Amenhotep III's tomb, WV22, and a lock of her auburn hair, enclosed in a small coffin, was found in Tutankhamun's tomb. There is a great deal of archaeological evidence indicating Tiye was probably grandmother to Tutankhamen. A mummy discovered in 1898 and designated "Elder Lady" has been identified as Tiye's after an electron probe compared a hair sample from the mummy and the lock of hair from Tiye found in Tutankhamun's tomb.