The court at this time was more or less under the influence of the now Queen-Regent Mutemua and her advisers, for Amonhotep III. was still too young to be allowed to go entirely his own way, and amongst those advisers it seems evident that Yuaa was to be numbered. Now the boy-king had not been on the throne more than a year, if as much, when, with feasting and ceremony, he was married to Tiy; and Yuaa and Tuau became the proud parents-in-law of the Pharaoh.
It is necessary to consider the significance of the marriage. The royal pair were the merest children; and it is impossible to suppose that the marriage was not arranged for them by their guardians. If Amonhotep at this early age had simply fallen in love with this girl, with whom probably he had been brought up, he, no doubt, would have insisted on marrying her, and she would have been placed in his harîm. But she became his Great Queen, was placed on the throne beside him, and received honours which no other queen of the most royal blood had ever received before. It is clear that the king’s advisers would never have permitted this had Tiy been but the pretty daughter of a noble of the court. There must have been something in her parentage which entitled her to these honours and caused her to be chosen deliberately as queen.
There are several possibilities. Tuau may have had royal blood in her veins, and may have been, for instance, the granddaughter of Thothmes III., to whom she bears some likeness in face. Queen Tiy is often called “Royal Daughter” as well as “Royal Wife”; and it is possible that this is to be taken literally. In a letter sent by Dushratta, King of Mitanni, to Akhnaton, Tiy is called “my sister and thy mother”; and though it is possible that the word “sister” is here used to indicate the general cousinship of royalty, it is more probable that some real connection is meant, for other relationships, such as “daughter,” “wife,” and “father-in-law,” are precisely stated in the letter. Yuaa may have been indirectly of royal Egyptian blood, or he may have been, as we have seen, the offspring of some Syrian royal house, such as that of Mitanni, related by marriage with the Pharaoh; and thus Tiy may have had some distant claim to the throne, and Dushratta would have had reason for calling her his sister. Queen Tiy, however, has so often been called a foreigner for reasons which have now been shown to be quite erroneous that we must be cautious in adopting any of these possibilities. It has been stated that her face is North-Syrian in type,[12] and, as the portrait upon which this statement is based is, in all features except the nose, reminiscent of Yuaa, that noble would also resemble the people of that country; and in this connection it must be remembered that the marriage of Tiy and Amonhotep took place under the regency of Mutemua, herself probably a North-Syrian princess. Be this as it may, however, the two children, not yet in their ’teens, ruled Egypt together, and Yuaa and Tuau stood behind the throne to advise them.
Queen Tiy.
Tuau now included amongst her titles those of “Royal Handmaid,” or lady-in-waiting, “the favoured-one of Hathor,” “the favourite of the King,” and “the Royal mother of the great wife of the King,” a title which may indicate that she was of royal blood. Amongst the titles of Yuaa one may mention those of “Master of the Horse and Chariot-Captain of the King,” “the favourite, excellent above all favourites,” and “the mouth and ears of the King,”—that is to say, his agent and adviser. He was a personage of commanding presence, whose powerful character showed itself in his face. One must picture him now as a tall man, with a fine shock of white hair; a great hooked nose, like that of a Syrian; full, strong lips; and a prominent, determined jaw. He has the face of an ecclesiastic, and there is something about his mouth which reminds one of the late Pope, Leo XIII. One feels, in looking at his well-preserved features, that here perhaps may be found the originator of the great religious movement which his daughter and grandson carried into execution.
Yuaa, grandfather of Akhnaton.