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Ang MeyIn Vietnamese record, she was called Ngọc Vân (玉雲). ( ; 1815 – December 1874) was a monarch of Cambodia. Her official title was Samdech Preah Mahā Rājinī Ang Mey. She was one of the few female rulers in Cambodia's history, and the first one since Queen Tey. Installed on the Cambodian throne by the , her reign was dominated by the two wars between Siam and the Nguyễn dynasty: the Siamese–Vietnamese War (1833–1834) and the Siamese-Vietnamese War (1841–1845).
Queen Ang Mey, also known by her Vietnamese title Ngọc-Vân-công-chúa (Princess Ngọc Vân), was proclaimed monarch on the death of her father by the Vietnamese faction at court with the title of "Chân Lạp quận chúa" (Duchess of Cambodia) in January 1835, then deposed in August 1840 with the demoted title of "Mỹ-Lâm-quận-chúa" (Duchess of Mỹ Lâm). She was reinstated in 1844, and again removed from the throne by the Vietnamese and taken to Huế with her sisters in 1845.
After King Ang Chan II died in 1834, there was no heir apparent to the Cambodian throne. The king had no son but four daughters: Princess Baen, Mey, Peou and Sngon. Sexual Culture in the east Asia pp, 127–155 This delighted Vietnam and Siam, both of which wanted to eliminate the royal rulers in Cambodia. Although Ang Chan's surviving brothers, Ang Im and Ang Duang, immediately laid claim to the throne, the Vietnamese then occupying Cambodia did not allow them to be crowned.
Instead, the Vietnamese emperor and the Cambodian courtiers chose to install Ang Chan II's eldest daughter, Princess Ang Baen, as the sovereign. However, she was passed over due to her being sympathetic to the Chakri dynasty's interests and her refusal to marry the emperor's son.Fieldnote, 2006 Ang Mey was an alternative to her sister, Baen. 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.Gender in election, p. 7
During Ang Mey's reign, all Cambodian women were ordered to wear Vietnamese-style garments áo ngũ thân instead of the khmer sampot (similar to the sarong), and had to grow their hair long in Vietnamese style.Fieldnote, 2005, 2006Violent against woman in Asian society 2003, p. 107 The market sold only Vietnamese food. Khmer classical dance had assimilated elements of Vietnamese and Chinese tradition. Cambodian officials had to don Vietnamese ceremonial garb. were destroyed in order to eradicate the Khmer identity.Cambodian people by Sipar, p. 29 Places also received Vietnamese names. The area around Phnom Penh was renamed Tran Tay, or "Western Commandery".Phnom Penh: a cultural and literary history By Milton Osborne, p. 51 The Cambodian people, not accustomed to be ruled by a Queen and despairing of the "Vietnamization" of their country, asked the to install a male ruler, Ang Duong, brother of Ang Chan II.
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. The princess was imprisoned pending her trial in Phnom Penh. The Vietnamese emperor, Minh Mạng, demoted Mey and the other princesses. In August 1841 they were all arrested and deported to Vietnam along with the royal regalia. Around that time, some of Ang Mey's relatives were imprisoned on the island of Poulo Condore. According to Thai and Cambodian sources, Ang Baen was drowned in the Mekong river, although Khin Sok states that Baen was tortured to death by the Vietnamese general and her body thrown in the river.
Spurred by the death of Princess Ang Baen and the absence of their Queen Ang Mey, many Cambodian courtiers and their followers revolted against the Vietnamese rule. 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. Only when the Vietnamese counter-offensive gained momentum and victory seemed assured was Mey returned to Phnom Penh. 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. Queen Ang Mey was reinstated as a queen and her sisters, Poeu and Sngon, as sub-prefecture rulers, in 1844.
As the warring factions fought to a stalemate in 1845, the Thai and Vietnamese initiated talks to resolve the Cambodian succession. In October 1846, the Vietnamese released the daughter and other family members of Ang Duong to join him in Oudong. Vietnam and Siam forged a compromise whereby both Ang Duong and Ang Mey would rule together are co-sovereigns. However, when the simultaneous coronation was held in Bangkok and Phnom Penh in 1848, records only show Ang Duong's accession to the throne. His niece, Ang Mey, was recorded as his successor instead of co-sovereign.
She later married an unknown man and had two daughters. She and her husband died in an accident in late December 1874 but were cremated at Phnom Penh in 1884.
During the succession crisis, Ang Mey did seem to seek a peaceful solution to the factional strife in Cambodia, corresponding through Ang Duong's envoys that she wished for a return to peace and the family's reunion. This may have been at diplomatic response; the Vietnamese annals described her as an intelligent young lady at the time of her accession. 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. By the end of her reign, Ang Mey reportedly was mad.
Cambodian history has constructed Mey as a passive victim hardly legitimate in the eye of her own people, Phnom Penh Post, 20 December 2002 – 2 January 2003, p 14 her reign a disaster during which Khmer territory, culture, and independence was almost lost. While it cannot be denied that the Vietnamese were in control of Cambodia during Ang Mey's reign, she inherited a country that had already been mortgaged to the Court of Hué by her father, Ang Chan II. Mey was crowned sovereign of a kingdom under Vietnamese overlordship. It is difficult to ascertain what course of action other than acquiescence was available to her.
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