When he reached adulthood, Swe was married to Myo Myat, a 5th generation descendant of King Thihathu of Pinya (r. 1310–1325) and his chief queen Mi Saw U of Pagan Dynasty.
[1] The commoner origin story first gained prominence in the early 20th century during the British colonial period as nationalist writers promoted it as proof that even a son of a toddy tree climber could rise to become the great emperor like Bayinnaung in Burmese society.
[note 1] Whatever their origin and station in life may have been, the couple's lives were changed for good in 1516 when both were chosen to be part of the seven-person staff to take care of the royal baby Tabinshwehti.
When Tabinshwehti came to power in 1530, the 14-year-old king took Swe's eldest daughter Khin Hpone Soe as one of his two queens; awarded his father-in-law a royal title of Minye Theinkhathu (မင်းရဲ သိင်္ခသူ); and made him a key adviser.
His royal ties became stronger in 1534 when his eldest son Ye Htut was married to Princess Thakin Gyi, younger half-sister of the king.
[6][7] In the next six years, whenever Tabinshwehti and Ye Htut (later styled as Bayinnaung Kyawhtin Nawrahta) went on military campaigns against the Hanthawaddy Kingdom, Swe was left to govern the capital, first Toungoo and later Pegu (Bago), with a sizable garrison.