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The Queen Mother is the one through whom descent to the throne is reckoned and thus wields considerable power.
The order of succession in an African culture of matrilineal primogeniture: not only is dynastic descent reckoned through the female line, but only females are eligible to inherit.
The matriarchal system of society, whereby descent was through the female line was the basis of the social organization in Ancient Egypt, and indeed throughout the rest of Black Africa.
quote: "Because of the need to ensure that the next king was born to a woman of the purest royal blood and because the role of the Great Royal Wife was of the greatest importance to the succession, the ruling king was usually married to the Great Royal Daughter (who was customarily his sister and the eldest daughter of the previous king and his Great Royal Wife). Inheritance thus passed through the female line; to substantiate his claim to the throne and gain acceptance of his own son as the next heir, each royal heir presumptive had to marry the Great Royal Daughter...Even claimants who had only tenuous links with the main royal line could legitimatize their kingship if they married the royal heiress. --Handbook to Life in Ancient Egypt, p87 by Rosalie David, Oxford
This system was so much at the core of Kememou political philosophy that it expresses itself in the legend of Isis (the ancestor-goddess of the Ancient Egyptians) and Osiris (the ancestor-god of the Ancient Egyptians); expressed by their very name/titles:
Thus it is clear; Osiris is portrayed as the fashioner or creator of political power and inheritance and Isis is political power and inheritance. This achieves, at least in theory, Maat.
The Kingdom is Possible Because of the Queen; The King is the Sign, while the Queen is the Symbol.
Legitimacy to the throne can only be derived from or restored from the South
Prophesy of Neferti: Then a king will come from the South, Ameny, the justified, by name, Son of a woman of Ta-Seti, child of Upper Kemet. He will take the white crown, He will wear the red crown; He will join the Two Mighty Ones, One will build the Walls-of-the-Ruler, to bar Asiatics from entering Egypt;
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^ In other words, Ausar represented kingship while his wife Auset represented the seat of kingship that is the throne. By the way, the custom of ascent to the throne through a royal lady is not unique to Africa and there is evidence of it in the early histories of ancient cultures of both the Near East and Europe. Of course the custom became displaced by strict patrilineal inheritance early on in the Near East and later in Europe. By the way, the custom of royal ascendency through the female still survives among peoples in Southeast Asia.
In ancient Egypt there were actually two main positions of power reserved for royal women. One is the King's mother and the other is the King's chief wife. But of course it is correct to compare these positions to those of other African monarchical systems and royal administrations.
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