The primary argument against Meritaten either as Krauss's "pro tempore" Ankh-et-kheprure before marriage to Smenkhkare or as Akhenaten's coregent King Neferneferuaten is that she is well attested as wife and queen to Smenkhkare. For her to have later ruled as king means necessarily, and perhaps incredibly for her subjects, that she stepped down from King to the role of King's Wife. This view places Smenkhkare after Neferneferuaten, which requires the Meryre depiction to be drawn 5–6 years after the 'Durbar' depiction it is alongside, and several years after work on tombs had stopped.