Nefertiti was the Great Royal Wife (or chief consort/wife) of the Egyptian Pharaoh Akhenaten. She was the mother-in-law and probable stepmother of the Pharaoh Tutankhamun. Nefertiti may have also ruled as pharaoh in her own right under the name Neferneferuaten briefly after her husband's death and before the accession of Tutankhamun, although this identification is called into doubt by the latest research.

Nefertiti's parentage is not known with certainty, but it is now generally believed that she was the daughter of Ay, later to be pharaoh. Another theory that gained some support identified Nefertiti with the Mitanni princess Tadukhipa.