Queen Tiye was the Great Royal Wife of Amenhotep III. She married the young Pharaoh Amenhotep when she was about 12. Amenhotep and Tiye had many children including: Sitamen, Thutmose, Akhenaten, Henut-Taneb, Isis, Nebetah, and Beketaten. (Smenkhkare and Tutankhamen may also have been her children, but the Amarna Princes' parentage is still up to debate).

She was a powerful "commoner queen" of the 18th Dynasty, a dynasty already known for it's powerful and influential women. She was not the sister or half sister of her husband. Tiye was the daughter of Yuya, Master of the Horse; and Thuya, a noble couple from the southern town of Akhmin. She had two brothers, Anen, the Second Prophet of Amun, and the infamous Ay was probably her brother as well. Her family was very influential, and Tiye remained a force to be reckoned with throughout her husband's entire 37 year reign. And when her second son, Amenhotep IV/Akhenaten, became Pharaoh, she remained prominent. Her elder son, Thutmose, died before he could assume the throne.

Tiye is represented in relief at Amarna, often with her son and young daugther, Beketaten (It has been proposed that Beketaten was actually the daughter of Akhenaten and his mother, Tiye, but this sort of union was unprecedented even in Egyptian royal families). She also had a 'sun shade' temple dedicated to her at Amarna. She remained in the lime-light until about year 12 of Akhenaten, when it is assumed she died. She was probably burried at Amarna, but appears to have been moved to the Valley of the Kings during the reign of her grandson, Tutankhamen.

Queen Tiye's titles were...
Great of Fearsomness;
The One Who is United With the King Who Appears as Shu;
She is in the Company of Your Majesty Like Maat in the Company of Re;
Sweet of Love;
Mistress of Joy, Lady of the Sweet Winds;
The One Who Fills the Palace with Love;
The One Who Fills the Palace with Beauty;
Great of Offerings, Splendid of Ornaments;
Mistress of The Imat-scepter;
Great of Praises;
Mother of the King;
Mother of the God;
King’s Wife;
King’s Great Wife;
King’s Great Wife Whom He Loves;
Lady of the Two Lands;
Lady of the South and the North;
Lady of All the Lands;
Noblewoman;
Mistress of the two Lands...