General Notes

Princess of Egypt

Sobeknefru was a queen of Amenemhet IV who possibly also was her brother and on his death she became pharaoh.
There are very few records from her short reign that have survived but some damaged statues have been found in the delta and she extended the so called Labyrinth of king Amenemhet III by his pyramid at Hawara in the Faiyum. This pharaoh might also have been her father.
She had a very brief reign of about four years and can possibly be the builder of a pyramid at Masghuna where also her husband may rest in a similar monument.
Picture left: the queen's throne name Sobek-ka-re within a cartouche and meaning - "Sobek is the Soul of Re".

Sobeknefru (sometimes also Neferusobek) was most likely a daughter of Amenemhet III and her name (within a cartouche right) means "Beautiful of the god Sobek". She is mentioned in Manetho's text, in the Karnak and Sakkara lists but not noted in the canon from Abydos. She was probably the sister or half sister to her husband Amenemhet IV whose title and occupation she took over shortly after his death.
Often her name appears with the addition Shedty that can be an indication that she was involved in the creation of a religious centre in Fayum called Shedet.
This cult praised the crocodile god Sobek and it's possible, though not confirmed, that the priests of this old local deity were the ones who backed her up as a national leader though their power (and hers) obviously was limited. This would also explain her break of tradition by taking a crocodile name as a pharaoh for the first time.

Sobeknefru reconstructed

The economic importance of Fayum had been increased since much land for cultivation had been reclaimed from the marshes during the reigns of several kings.
Physical evidence from her reign is scant but inscriptions at the second cataract, a cylinder seal with her names and texts associating her with her father, have survived. She completed her fathers mortuary temple where her name appears many times (and that of Amenemhat IV - never).
An apparent remain are three fragmentary life-size basalt statues of her found at the site Tell el Dab'a (former Avaris) in the eastern delta. One of them is shown in the picture left with a fictive addition giving an impression of what it once might have looked like. Note that the statue fragment has breasts and does not have a false beard and thus once clearly showed Sobeknefru as a real female pharaoh.
Her tomb has not been found, but there is a hardly begun pyramid at Mazghuna North that might be a remnant of hers.
If this is the case she seems to have left the Fayum area for the traditional administrative and religious centres up north like Memphis and Heliopolis. Where she actually had her residence is not known.
So far (year 2002) no depiction of her has appeared in paintings or 3D form. A possible exception is a small statue from the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York mentioned in an article edited by C.J. Eyre published in: Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta, nr. 82 (p 227-236). It is an intact depiction of a female pharaoh with a unusual crown on her head and wearing a Hebsed cloak. The assumption that it is of her is made purely on stylistic grounds.
Her reign concluded the 12th dynasty, a prosperous period in Egyptian history.
She was one of very few women (probably one of two in 3000 years) to achieve the rank of pharaoh over Egypt.