What is Great Royal Wife?
'''Great Royal Wife''' is the title that was used by the main wife of the [[pharaoh]] in [[Ancient Egypt]]. [[File:Tomb of Nefertari (52785688763).jpg|thumb|A painting of [[Nefertari]], Great royal wife of Ramses II]] == Description == In [[Ancient Egypt|Egypt]], most men were married only to one wife, but the pharaohs had more wives and women who lived with their main wife. This happened so [[Pharaoh|pharaohs]] could marry the daughters of their friends of neighboring countries, which was common for ancient kings.<ref>Shaw, Garry J. ''The Pharaoh, Life at Court and on Campaign'', Thames and Hudson, 2012, p. 48, 91-94.</ref>[[File:Clevelandart 1920.1991.jpg|thumb|The [[Vulture crown]] which was usually worn by Great royal wives. ]] The mother of the future king was not always the main wife, but after a pharaoh became king, his mother could be given the title of Great Royal Wife and other titles too. Some examples of this are Iset, who was the mother of [[Thutmose III]], Tiaa, who was the mother of Thutmose IV, and Mutemwia, who was the mother of Amenhotep III.<ref>Joann Fletcher: ''Egypt's Sun King – Amenhotep III'' (Duncan Baird Publishers, London, 2000) {{ISBN|1-900131-09-9}}, p.167</ref> Meretseger, who was married to Senusret III, might have been the first queen to have this title. However, she is only known from the [[New Kingdom of Egypt|New Kingdom]], so it's possible that this title is not from that time.<ref>L. Holden, in: ''Egypt's Golden Age: The Art of Living in the New Kingdom, 1558-1085 B.C.'', Boston 1982, S. 302f.</ref> Maybe Nubkhaes from the Second Intermediate Period was the first person to have this title. == References == {{reflist}} [[Category:Ancient Egyptians]]