Relief depicting Kawab in his mastaba tomb at Giza.
Source: KMT 7/4, p. 47.
Kawab was a son of Kheops and Meretites who served as a vizier during the reign of his father.
He married his sister, Hetepheres II, with whom he fathered several children: the princes Duaenhor, Kaemsekhem and Mindjedef.
A relief found in the mastaba originally prepared for Hetepheres II but donated by her to her daughter, Meresankh III, identifies Kawab as the father of this Meresankh.
It is not certain that Kawab ever has been a crown-prince, despite his title "eldest son of the king", which may have been purely honorific or an indication that he was a son of Kheops' most important wife. His high status is shown by his elaborate titulary, one of his most notable titles being that of vizier.
He predeceased both his father and his wife. His elaborate mastaba tomb was discovered to the east of Kheops' pyramid in Giza (Mastaba 7110-7120). A burial chamber built in this mastaba for his wife, Hetepheres II, was left unfinished, as Hetepheres out-lived Kawab by many years and chose another tomb.
A posthumous honour was paid to Kawab several centuries after he lived, when prince Khaemwaset, a son of Ramesses II, restored one of his statues in the temple of Memphis.