Born in Year 4 or 5, Nefertiti's second child Meketaten emulated her mother and sister. At Karnak, she joins them in temple reliefs, her chubby hands struggling to clutch a sistrum she is allowed only to carry; several more years will pass before the artists preserve the image of a princess finally old enough to shake her sistrum. Such age formalities mostly applied to temple ritual, and therefore did not exclude Meketaten and her sisters from other ceremonies of state. In the tomb of her probable grandparents, Ay and Tiy, Meketaten is shown holding a tray of gold shebu collars for Akhenaten to bestow. She is also present with all five of her sisters at the celebrations in Year 12; it would be the last time the royal fmaily was to be shown together.

Year 13 or 14 brought with it a tragedy for the close-knit royal family, for within the royal tomb they interred one of their beloved daughters. Now christened Room Gamma, the chamber's wall reliefs depict Akhenaten and Nefertiti lamenting over the beir of a woman who has died in childbirth. The status of the infant - and thus its mother - is indicated by the presence of fanbearers trailing the nursemaid who coddles the child. The babe's name is lost in the dust of the decrepit wall reliefs, but the name of the mother has not fared so poorly. Another relief in the same room depicts the deceased inside a birth pavilion: her name is given as Meketaten. At the most critical point in her life, the Aten's protection failed her.

Her age at death is not certain; she may have been as young as ten years of age, but could not have been older than twelve. Either age would still find her capable of conceiving and bearing children, as females in the ancient world matured early. Alas, while Meketaten was fertile enough to conceive, she may not have been physically mature enough to withstand the stress of giving birth. The presence of a birth bower in the scenes can be viewed as both an allusion to her means of death and a symbolic wish for the princess' rebirth.

The father of Meketaten's child is nowhere named, but is presumed to be her own father, Akhenaten. Admittedly, it is not known whether a husband/male guardian would have been permitted to be present at such an intimate scene of royal mourning, so it is possible that a few generations of Egyptologists owe Akhenaten a somewhat belated apology. However, those same Egyptologist also have the bittersweet gift of retrospect; the virtual replacement of Nefertiti by her first and third daughters, their status as queens, and their apparent children make Akhenaten the most likely father of Meketaten's child. Nor is it insignificant that Meketaten's death marks the last appearance of Nefertiti before her sister's rise in prominence. Like the Great Queen, no other record of Meketaten's daughter survives beyond this point.

Meketaten's funerary equipment has been reduced to only a few tentatively identified pieces. A small gold stitula inscribed for the "King's Daughter, Meketaten" is a replica of the vessels used to provide eternal sustenance for the deceased. Uninscribed but tantalizing is a miniature alabaster hes vase inlayed with the figure of a princess standing on a lotus, a reference to the god Re being born from a lotus and thus a potent symbol of rebirth. One object relating to Meketaten's life is an ivory painting palette which, like that of her sister Meritaten, came to rest in the tomb of Tutankhamun (KV62).