Why did the Egyptians mummify their kings?

In April 2021, the streets of Cairo, Egypt were witness to a very grand and very strange procession, the parade of mummies! For more than a century, the preserved bodies of pharaohs and queens of ancient Egypt had been kept in the Egyptian Museum. But by now, the museum is crowded and many items worth showing don’t have display space. So this April, 18 kings and 4 queens who ruled Egypt over 3,000 years ago were shifted to their new home in the Royal Mummies Hall at the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization (NMEC).   

All of this brings us to the question: why did Egyptians preserve their dead kings in the first place?  

Why did Egyptians make mummies?  
A mummy is the preserved dead body of a human or an animal. The ancient Egyptians believed that spirit stays on in a well-preserved body, and eventually rises up again. Without the body, the spirit has no home, and it wanders about, lost among other souls. This elaborate burial practice does not mean the Egyptians were preoccupied with death. On the contrary, they made these plans since they loved life. They felt nothing could be better than their current kingly lifestyle, and they wanted it to go on even after death.  

Which Egyptians got mummified? 
The pharaohs and queens of Egypt were mummified and buried in elaborate tombs under gigantic structures we call pyramids. Sometimes, noblemen and important priests and ministers also often received the same treatment. Animals too were mummified at times, for religious reasons or if they were royal pets. The sacred bulls of Egypt actually have their own cemetery at Sakkara. Baboons, cats, birds, jackals and crocodiles, all had religious significance, so they were sometimes mummified. The process of making a mummy was very elaborate and also very expensive, so common people could not afford it.  

How were mummies made?  
The Egyptians first removed all moisture from the body, most internal organs, and a part of the brain, leaving only a dried form. After that, they wrapped the body in specially treated linen sheets. Some of these are so well preserved that we can make out what the person might have looked like.