Tey

Tey was the Great Royal Wife of Kheperkheprure Ay, who was the penultimate pharaoh of Ancient Egypt's Eighteenth Dynasty. She also had been the wet nurse of Nefertiti.¹

Her husband, Ay filled important administrative roles in the courts of several pharaohs – Amenhotep III, Akhenaten, and Tutankhamen – before ascending the throne following the death of Tutankhamen, as the male line of the royal family became extinct. He is believed to be connected to the royal family, probably a brother of Queen Tiye (wife of Amenhotep III). Some researchers theorize that he even may have been the father of Nefertiti.

Family

Tey was Ay's wife. In inscriptions at Amarna, Tey is called "Nurse of the Great Royal Wife." It has been theorized that this title meant she was stepmother to Nefertiti as Ay's second wife.² Ay and Tey are never explicitly called Nefertiti's father or mother. Thus, if Tey was Ay's only wife, neither were parent to Nefertiti.³ However, if they are the parents of Nefertiti, Mutbenret was most likely Ay and Tey's daughter. Further, Nakhtmin, Ay's intended successor, might be their son.⁴

Additionally, Tey may have had a sister named Mutemnub and brother-in-law named Nakhtmin. On a statue currently in the Brooklyn Museum, a dignitary named Ay is called Second Prophet of Amun, high priest of Mut, and Steward of Queen Tey. His parents are recorded as Nahtmin and Mutemnub, sister of Queen Tey. The inscription is usually interpreted to mean that she was this Tey's sister.