Tiye's father, Yuya, was a non-royal, wealthy landowner from the Upper Egyptian town of Akhmim,[1] where he served as a priest and superintendent of oxen or commander of the chariotry.

[2] Tiye's mother, Thuya, was involved in many religious cults, as her different titles attested (Singer of Hathor, Chief of the Entertainers of both Amun and Min...),[3] which suggests that she was a member of the royal family.

[5] Ay, a successor of Tutankhamun as pharaoh after the latter's death, is believed to be yet another brother of Tiye, despite no clear date or monument confirming a link between the two.

Egyptologists presume this connection from Ay's origins (also from Akhmin), because he is known to have built a chapel dedicated to the local god Min there, and because he inherited most of the titles that Tiye's father, Yuya, held at the court of Amenhotep III during his lifetime.

[4] Their marriage was celebrated by the issue of commemorative scarabs, announcing Tiye as Great Royal Wife and giving the names of her parents.

Her husband devoted a number of shrines to her and constructed a temple dedicated to her in Sedeinga in Nubia where she was worshipped as a form of the goddess Hathor-Tefnut.

New elements in her portraiture, such as the addition of cows' horns and sun disks—attributes of the goddess Hathor—to her headdress, and her representation in the form of a sphinx—an image formerly reserved for the king—emphasize her role as the king's divine, as well as earthly partner.

He often had to consider claims for Egypt's gold and requests for his royal daughters in marriage from foreign kings such as Tushratta of Mitanni and Kadashman-Enlil I of Babylon.

She continued to play an active role in foreign relations and was the first Egyptian queen to have her name recorded on official acts.

In Amarna letter EA 26, Tushratta, corresponded directly with Tiye to reminisce about the good relations he enjoyed with her then deceased husband and extended his wish to continue on friendly terms with her son, Akhenaten.

[14] In an inscription approximately dated to November 21 of Year 12 of Akhenaten's reign (1338 BC), both she and her granddaughter Meketaten are mentioned for the last time.

[14] Tiye is believed to have been originally buried in the Royal Tomb at Amarna alongside her son Akhenaten and granddaughter, Meketaten.

In a depiction that closely resembles the mourning of Meketaten in chamber γ, a figure stands beneath a floral canopy while the royal family grieves.

"[22] A nest of four miniature coffins inscribed with her name and containing a lock of hair[23] was found in the tomb of her grandson Tutankhamun – perhaps a memento from a beloved grandmother.

[24] By 2010, DNA analysis, sponsored by the Secretary General of the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities Zahi Hawass, was able to formally identify the Elder Lady as Queen Tiye.