Birth and family Queen Hetepheres II may have been one of the longest-lived members of the royal family of the
Fourth Dynasty of Egypt, which lasted from c. 2723 to 2563 BC. She was a daughter of
Khufu and was either born during the reign of her grandfather
Sneferu or during the early years of her father's reign. She was named after her grandmother,
Hetepheres I and she had an aunt named
Hetepheres A. A fragmentary titulature found in the tomb of
Meritites I may indicate that she was the mother of Hetepheres II. ;Titles of Hetepheres II • Daughter of the King of Upper and Lower Egypt Khufu (
zat-nesut-biti-Khufu, zꜣt nswt bjtj ḫw.f-wj) • King’s beloved daughter of his body (
zat-nesut-khetef-meretef, zꜣt nswt ẖt.f mrt.f) • King’s Daughter (
zat-nesut, zꜣt nswt) • King’s wife (
hemet-nesut, ḥmt nswt) • King’s wife, his beloved (
hemet-nesut-meretef, ḥmt nswt mrt.f) • Beholder of
Horus and
Seth, (
maat-hor-setesh, mꜣꜣt ḥr-stš) • Follower of Horus (
xt ḥr) • Intimate of Horus (
Tist ḥr) • Companion of Horus (
semer[et]-hor, smrt] ḥr) • Consort of him who is beloved of the Two Ladies (
semayet-meret-nebti, smꜣyt mry nbtj) • Great favorite (
wrt Hts) • Controller of the butchers of the acacia house (
kherep-seshem-shendjet, ḫrp sšm[tyw] šnḏt) • Priestess of
Thoth (
hemet-netjer-djehuti, ḥmt-nṯr ḏḥwtj) • Priestess of
Bapefy (
hemet-netjer-bapef, ḥmt-nṯr bꜣpf) • Priestess of Tjasep (
ḥmt-nṯr TA-sp)
Marriages During the reign of Khufu, Hetepheres II married her brother, the Crown Prince
Kawab, with whom she had at least 2 children, a daughter named
Meresankh III and a son named
Mindjedef. After the death of her first husband, she married another of her brothers,
Djedefre who later succeeded Khufu as king of Egypt. She was widowed a second time when
Djedefre died. The marriage of her daughter, Meresankh III, to her late second husband's successor
Khafre made Hetepheres II the mother-in-law of the new king. She would later out-live Meresankh III. A mark of her affection for Meresankh III may be seen in the fact that Hetepheres II had her own
mastaba in the eastern cemetery of
Giza converted into a tomb for her daughter's use. Hetepheres II herself was probably buried in tomb G7350 even though she possessed a joint tomb with her first husband, Kawab (G7110 and 7120 respectively). While marriage within the royal family was common, multiple marriages to this extent was not. It has been suggested her subsequent marriage to Djedefre was honorary in nature and done in order to maintain her position at court. She never produced an heir to the throne in her second marriage and was never given the title of ''King's Mother''. Hetepheres finally died early in the reign of
Shepseskaf, the son and successor of
Menkaura, and had thus witnessed the reigns of at least five and perhaps six (if she was born during the reign of Sneferu) kings of the fourth Dynasty. ==Children==