Since King Tut was only a child, he would not have been able to make decisions about running the country on his own. Egypt was, in fact, ruled by Tut's chief advisers, Aye and Horemheb (commander of the Egyptian army).
The Boy King suddenly died approximately nine years after he became Pharoah. He and Ankhesenamun didn't have any surviving children, so there were no heirs. Aye married Ankhesenamun and he became the next Pharoah.
King Tut's tomb was discovered in 1922 by Howard Carter. In 1963, Tut's mummy was x-rayed. His age was estimated to be between 18-20 years and the examination showed that he had sustained a head injury to the back of the skull. This could have been caused by either a blow to the head or an accident.
Was this murder? Only a few people would have been able to get close enough to the Pharoah to murder him. One theory about what happened is that Aye didn't want King Tut to make decisions on his own about how the country should be run. He either killed King Tut or hired someone else to do it. He was then able to pressure the Queen to marry him so he could become Pharoah. It is not known what became of Ankhesenamun after her marriage to Aye.
Aye was King of Egypt for only four years. After his death, Horemheb (another of King Tut's advisers) became Pharoah. He had the names of Tutankhamun and Aye removed from monuments and put his own name in their place.
If King Tut were murdered, it would seem that both Aye and Horemheb should be considered suspects. Certainly, both men benefited from the Boy King's death. Or they could have simply seized the opportunity to gain power when circumstances turned in their favour.
We have no way of knowing exactly what happened and this mystery remains unsolved.
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