Queen Ankhesenamun

Her had has tragically now vanished.Ankhesenamun was the third of Nefertiti's daughters but she is best known as the wife of the famous pharaoh King Tutankhamun who was the king of Egypt 3,500 years ago.Nowadays, it is not thought that Tutankhamun was ed, although a letter from a Queen of the time to the King of the Hittites says quite plainly that her husband was ed and that they were trying to force her to marry her husband's ed.He was a very old man - old enough to have been her grandfather.Maybe her final misfortune was her fourth husband, the Pharaoh Ay.

Her misfortune has continued in .Although Queen Ankhesenamun obviously loved Tutankhamun, he was actually not her first husband: he may have been her third.Ankhesenamun does fit the profile.When the KV21A mummy was found it had a head with long, lustrous black hair.The mummy, known as KV21A, was found without inscriptions or grave goods and has been identified as the probably mother of two of Tutankhamun's children which, by deduction, suggests it is Ankhesenamun.Ankhesenamun was probably quite an attractive woman.

For many years Ay was suspected as having ed Tutankhamun.Was she ed?A century ago, macabre mummy parties were all the rage and she probably and a unwanted starring part in one during which her head was unwrapped and then burned or thrown away.There is no doubt that the royal couple were in love.She may then have been married to a little known Pharaoh by name of Smenkhkare.In short, she may have been married to four different kings which for a lady who died at about age 30 is quite an achievement!It is also perhaps an indication that she was unlucky: she buried three husbands.

The latest DNA study also shows that she had a severe club foot and would have struggled to walk far, and was probably in pain when she did walk.Sadly, if the KV21A mummy really is Ankhesenamun we shall probably never know as it is in very poor condition.It is thought she was within months of this marriage.Indeed, he probably was her grandfather.According to the tradition of the times, it is widely believed that Ankhesenamun was first married to her father,

the Pharaoh Akhenaten.The latest DNA study of Tutankhamun's family published in the Journal of the American Medical Association suggests that a mummy found in the Valley of the Kings may belong to Ankhesenamun.After Tutankhamun's , she was also married to his successor the Pharoah Ay.

Several objects found in Tutankhamun's tomb by Howard Carter depict the couple.Whatever, after her marriage to Ay to secure his dynastic succession, Ankhesenamun quickly fades from sight and is not heard from again.The most famous is the golden throne which has a panel on the back showing the royal couple, but the panel on an ivory coffer is also very nice.