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Great Royal Wife (or ḥmt nswt wrt) is the term used to refer to the chief wife of an Egyptian pharaoh on the day of his coronation. The term started to be used in the Second Intermediate Period, along with the use of a cartouche for the royal consort. She was an official state consort and may have been a sister or even daughter. The pharaoh would often marry his sister or daughter in order to keep the royal blood line pure and would have also had other wives. The Great Royal Wife was not necessarily the wife chosen to bear the pharaoh's children.
