Queen Hatshepsut was born in the 15th century B.C. She was the daughter of Thutmose I and Aahmes. Hatshepsut was married to Thutmose II, her half-brother. Upon Thutmose II death Thutmose III, the son of Thutmose II and his royal concubine, was too young to become pharaoh. Hatshepsut who was his step mother became pharaoh instead. Thutmose III envied Queen Hatshepsut and was eager to become the Pharaoh. Because of the dislike Thutmose III tried to erase any trace of the female Pharaoh that dressed as a male.
The mystery surrounding the death of Queen Hatshepsut heightens when her remains disappeared for KV20. It is suggest that in the Third Intermediate Period, during the 21st or 22nd Dynasties, the mummy of Hatshepsut was relocated to KV60, which possibly was cut in the 18th Dynasty but never used, this tomb was incomplete and was not decorated. It is speculated that the tomb was be built for someone else. According to research it appears that the mummy of Hatshepsut was switch to the coffin of her wet nurse for security reason and as a sign of respect. After researching one would think that the hatred from Thutmose III played into the mysterious disappearance of the Pharaoh. I speculated that she was murdered. There were no signs of the Pharaoh until 1960s when translations of hieroglyphs and other discoveries brought clarity to the missing information in historical records.
The mystery of the Queen mummy started to unfold in April 2007 in the tombs of Deir el-Bahril. Dr. Zahi Hawasaa retrieved the mummy and transported it to the Cairo museum for testing. This mummy was discovered in 1903 by Egyptologist Belzoni during the 1930’s Howard Carte re-excavated the tomb and left the mummy in the Valley of the Kings until 2007. The mummy was a large woman with her left hand positioned against her chest, which is the position for royalty in Egypt. DNA bone testing was done and dental records matching a tooth found to belong to the mummy. In June 2007 after two months of testing the results were in that the mummy was actually Queen Hatshepsut. Testing revealed that she had diabetes and ruled that her death could have possibly been liver cancer.
With these discoveries it still leaves one to ponder over cause of death. Was liver cancer or diabetes a documented disease of the time? Since, there is no documentation in history of illness it is possible that poison or some other traumatic event could have caused the symptoms that were prevalent at the time of testing.