After the Old Kingdom, there seems to have been a separation of roles with the official positions going to members of the nobility. There were a few notable exceptions to this rule, such as the role of God’s wife of Amun. Throughout most of Egyptian history the royal family were only rarely referenced on monuments and official sources. The most visible members of the royal family were the Egyptian Queens (the principal wives of the king and his mother), while much of his extended family faded into relative obscurity. One notable exception to this is the reign of Akhenaten, who was regularly depicted with his family.
