[citation needed] After King Ang Chan II died in 1834, there was no heir apparent to the Cambodian throne.

A Thai manuscript stated that the Vietnamese had tried to persuade Ang Mey to marry the son of emperor Gia Long in order to facilitate the incorporation of Cambodia into Vietnam; however, this plan was abandoned at strong objections from Cambodian nobles.

[10] During Ang Mey's reign, all Cambodian women were ordered to wear Vietnamese-style garments vi:áo ngũ thân instead of the khmer sampot (similar to the sarong), and had to grow their hair long in Vietnamese style.

[15] In 1840, the elder sister of Ang Mey, Princess Baen, was discovered corresponding with her mother and uncle who were living in Battambang and planning to escape to them.

Seizing the opportunity Siam invaded Cambodia in an attempt to install Ang Duong on the throne as their own puppet, triggering the Siamese–Vietnamese War (1841–45).

In an attempt to defuse the rebellion, Vietnamese officials in Phnom Penh called for the return of Mey to Cambodia but the emperor Ming Mang refused.

Her proclamation in March 1844 intended for the provincial officials and leaders sought their support while Ang Duong issued similar appeals from Oudong for his claim to the throne.

However, when the simultaneous coronation was held in Bangkok and Phnom Penh in 1848, records only show Ang Duong's accession to the throne.

Ang Duong took care to emphasize association between Mey and the Vietnamese, and blamed her rule for the loss of indentured slaves.

There were even rumors that Mey was a concubine of Truong Minh Giang, the Vietnamese governor in Phnom Penh but there is no historical evidence of such a liaison.

[20] Others tempered their allegation of Ang Mey's misdeeds; the once beautiful princess may have sold her country, but not her body, to the Vietnamese.

[10] Sudden and forced relocations to Vietnam and back, the murder of her sisters, and continued changes in her status may have induced hysterical or untoward behaviour.

[22] Cambodian history has constructed Mey as a passive victim hardly legitimate in the eye of her own people,[23] her reign a disaster during which Khmer territory, culture, and independence was almost lost.