Tuthmosis II was the half-royal son of Tuthmosis I and a lesser queen named Mutnefert. He had two half-brothers (Wadjmose and Amenmose) whose mother was Queen Ahmose, the "great royal wife." It was Wadjmose and Amenmose who were in line to inherit the throne, not Tuthmosis II. But they both died before getting a turn, leaving him as the only male heir.

He also had a half-sister, Hatshepsut, whose parents were Tuthmosis I and Queen Ahmose. Hatshepsut was therefore 100% royal. Since Tuthmosis II was only half as royal, he married her to strengthen his connection to the throne. Tuthmosis II and Hatshepsut had a daughter (Neferure) but no sons, although he did have a son (Tuthmosis III) with a harem girl.

Tuthmosis II was nowhere near as great a king as his father. He was frail and sickly and died when he was in his early thirties. What a disappointment!

During the New Kingdom, royal tombs were built high in the cliffs of Upper Egypt in a spot commonly called "The Valley of the Kings." The intention was to make the tombs as inaccessible to grave robbers as possible... although they got robbed anyway. Around 1000 BC, a group of priests gathered up all the royal mummies and stored them in two secret "mummy caches" (one near Deir el-Bahari, and the other in the tomb of Amenhotep II) to keep them safe. These hidden royals were nowhere to be found for almost 2,000 years: in 1881, the 40 mummies in the Deir el-Bahari location were found; then in 1898 the tomb of Amenhotep II with its additional 16 mummies was discovered. Tuthmosis II was in the 1881 cache, and although his mummy has been found, his own original tomb is still undiscovered!