Imre was crowned in 1182 (14 years before his father's death) by Archbishop Miklós of Esztergom. In the Hungarian history of the Árpád era, it was rare for the heir to be crowned before the death of the predecessor. His father, Béla III died in 1196, thus Imre, could take the throne immediately.

The king got into a constant conflict with his brother, the later Andrew II, who rebelled against him several times. Imre did everything he could to ensure his son Ladislaus's accession to the throne, so he had him crowned even when he was still young, and then asked Andrew to support his son in everything.

Imre died in 1204, so his son would have taken over his power, but he too at the age of six died. In the end, the crown fell on Andrew's head.

Of the many coins made during the reign of King Imre (1196–1204), only two can be said with certainty that they were minted during his reign. The first rare coin has the inscription HE - NRIC - VS on the obverse, while on the reverse a Rx monogram can be seen around it. The other, also rare coin, has five small crosses radiating around a star on its obverse. The first three crosses have the following letters: E - - N - R. The reverse has a cross surrounded by 4 crescents. It is likely that the coins with letters H and E are also coins of King Imre, since H is Henricus and E is the initial of the name Emericus.