section_path: Succession
section_name: Succession
paragraph_text: Succession
  
  Since the two children of Tutankhamun were either stillborn or did not survive long after birth, and Tutankhamun was presumably the last of the royal male siblings, there was no immediate heir apparent to assume the throne. Records in Horemheb's tomb state that Tutankhamun appointed him "lord of the land" as Iry-pat (heir designate), which is essentially the designated hereditary prince to maintain law. However, some have argued that queen Ankhesenamun may have been able to transfer kinship to a husband, but would have preferred to not marry someone of lesser status than royal queen status. Horemheb was a militaryman of peasant birth and was, as the military commander-in-chief, technically a servant of queen Ankhesenamun. The vizier Ay, while of some royal blood, was an established vizier, and also technically a servant of queen Ankhesenamun. Ankhesenamun's assumed spousal preferences may have ignited a series of disruptions in the fulfillment of what some have argued may have been king Tutankhamun's preference on throne heirship.