When her mother Me Nu was executed with attempts to seize the throne by King Tharrawaddy, Princess Setkya Dewi saved her life and took her home.
Following King Mindon's death, she became a kingmaker and orchestrated a massacre that claimed the lives of more than 100 members of the royal family, including nearly all potential heirs to the throne.
[6] After this brutal event, she chose to install Prince Thibaw on the throne as her puppet and offered her eldest daughter, Supayagyi, to be his queen.
After Thibaw ascended the throne, she was regarded as the queen dowager and granted the appanages of several territories including Amyint Prefecture, Salin, Talok, Bhamo and Wuntho.
This led to Hsinbyumashin's anger, and she secretly plotted to dethrone King Thibaw and replace Prince Nyaungyan on the throne, with the intention of arranging a marriage between him and her astute daughter, Supayagyi.
Sladen's knowledge of the Burmese court politics, as revealed through the Queen's letter, presented a valuable opportunity for the British.
[10] After Crown Prince Kanaung's assassination in 1866, King Mindon faced intense pressure to resolve the succession deadlock.
As Hsinbyumashin's power in the court grew, she ordered the arrest of Kenni Princess and her family during the 1879 massacre at Mandalay Palace.
[11] The Konbaung dynasty reign lasted just seven years when Thibaw Min was defeated in the Third Anglo-Burmese War and forced to abdicate by the British in 1885.
On 25 November 1885, the royal family were taken away in a covered carriage, leaving Mandalay Palace by the southern gate of the walled city along the streets lined by British soldiers and their wailing subjects, to the River Irrawaddy where a steamboat called Thuriya (Sun) awaited.
The Queen expressed her desire to live in Calcutta, but the Governor-General informed her that she would be accommodated in a private mansion upon her arrival in Ratnagiri.
Due to health issues, she stayed in Calcutta for approximately two months before taking a train to Bombay and finally arriving at King Thibaw's mansion in Ratnagiri on 22 August 1887.
Instead, it was laid out in Nyang Shwe Sawba’s courtyard (presently located between 75-76 Streets, near Kyaw Moe Gate, south of Mandalay) for a duration of approximately one month.