Ekaterine Dadiani, Princess of Megrelia
Encyclopedia
Princess Ekateriné Dadiani was a prominent 19th century Georgian
aristocrat and the last ruling princess
of the Western Georgian
Principality of Megrelia
in southeastern Europe. She played an important role in resisting the Ottoman influence in her principality and was at the center of Georgian high society, both inside the country and abroad.
Ekateriné was born to a distinguished Georgian noble family from Eastern Georgia. Her father was Prince Alexander Chavchavadze
, a notable Georgian general and a godchild
of Catherine the Great of Russia
. Her mother was Princess Salomé Orbeliani
, a great-granddaughter of Erekle II
(Heraclius II) of Eastern Georgia. Her younger sister Princess Nino
was married to Aleksandr Griboyedov, a famous Russian playwright, composer, and diplomat. Ekateriné's older sister Princess Sophie was married to Count Alexandr Nikolai, the minister of education of Imperial Russia.
On December 19, 1838 Ekateriné married the Hereditary Prince
of Megrelia, David Dadiani, who in two years became monarch of the principality after the retirement of his father, Levan V of Megrelia
. In 1853 David died and Ekateriné quickly assumed the responsibilities of her late husband, rising from relative obscurity. Recognizing her as regent
of Megrelia
on behalf of her son Prince Niko
, Nicholas I of Russia
assigned her a regency council
which included the brothers of her late husband, Prince Gregory and Prince Constantine.
, Turks sent a considerable force to Megrelia, occupying significant parts of the principality and forcing Ekateriné to flee for security reasons. She soon received a threatening letter from the commanding Turkish general Omar Pasha
demanding her surrender, as well as the transfer of her son's principality to the Ottoman Empire
. Refusing to dignify Pasha's
letter with an answer, Ekateriné assumed control of the Megrelian forces and organized successful counter-attacks which inflicted serious damage on the invading Turks.
The Crimean War
soon ended in 1856 with the Treaty of Paris
and Princess Dadiani was re-instated as regent, receiving an invitation to the coronation
of Emperor Alexander II of Russia
. She attended the ceremony with her children, as well as her sister, Nino. According to the Russian memoirist K.A. Borozdin, Ekateriné retained "the luster of her beauty" and looked extraordinary in her "original and richly decorated costume." The memoirist, like many others in modern-day Georgia, refers to Princess Dadiani as the "Megrelian Queen" and states that at the coronation ball everyone was "delighted with (Ekateriné), her sister, children, and entourage."
, forcing Princess Dadiani to request help from Russia. Having already effectively annexed
Eastern Georgia, Russia eagerly intervened, subdued the uprising, and asked Ekateriné to move to Saint Petersburg
on the pretext of facilitating her children's education and upbringing there. Her departure and the establishment of a "temporary" Russian military authority in Megrelia marked the de facto
abolition of the principality.
in Tsarskoe Selo open to the Georgian and Russian intelligentsia
. After living there for nearly ten years, she moved to Paris
where her daughter Princess Salomé already lived with her French husband, Prince Achille Murat. In the final years of her life, Princess Ekateriné moved back to Western Georgia, then officially part of the Russian Empire
, and lived there to the end. She was interred in the medieval Eastern Orthodox
monastery of Martvili
.
Georgians
The Georgians are an ethnic group that have originated in Georgia, where they constitute a majority of the population. Large Georgian communities are also present throughout Russia, European Union, United States, and South America....
aristocrat and the last ruling princess
Princess
Princess is the feminine form of prince . Most often, the term has been used for the consort of a prince, or his daughters....
of the Western Georgian
Georgia (country)
Georgia is a sovereign state in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the southwest by Turkey, to the south by Armenia, and to the southeast by Azerbaijan. The capital of...
Principality of Megrelia
Samegrelo
Samegrelo/Samargalo or Megrelia, Mingrelia is a historic province in the western part of Georgia, formerly also known as Odishi.It is inhabited by the Megrelians, an ethnic subgroup of the Georgians.-Geography and Climate:...
in southeastern Europe. She played an important role in resisting the Ottoman influence in her principality and was at the center of Georgian high society, both inside the country and abroad.
Family and marriage
Alexander Chavchavadze
Prince Alexander Chavchavadze was a notable Georgian poet, public benefactor and military figure. Regarded as the "father of Georgian romanticism," he was also known as a preeminent aristocrat of Georgia and a talented general in the Imperial Russian service.-Early life:Alexander Chavchavadze was...
, a notable Georgian general and a godchild
Godchild
, also known as Count Cain, is a gothic shōjo manga series written and illustrated by Kaori Yuki. Earl Cain consists of five parts or "Series": , , , , and the sequel series ....
of Catherine the Great of Russia
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
. Her mother was Princess Salomé Orbeliani
House of Orbeliani
The Orbeliani was a Georgian noble family , which branched off the Baratashvili family in the 17th century and later produced several lines variously called Orbeliani, Orbelishvili , Qaplanishvili , and Jambakur-Orbeliani...
, a great-granddaughter of Erekle II
Erekle II
Erekle II was a Georgian monarch of the Bagrationi Dynasty, reigning as the king of Kakheti from 1744 to 1762, and of Kartli and Kakheti from 1762 until 1798. In the contemporary Persian sources he is referred to as Erekli Khan, while Russians knew him as Irakli...
(Heraclius II) of Eastern Georgia. Her younger sister Princess Nino
Nino Chavchavadze
Princess Nino Chavchavadze , was a daughter of the famous Georgian Knyaz and poet Alexander Chavchavadze and wife of Russian diplomat and playwright Alexandr Griboyedov....
was married to Aleksandr Griboyedov, a famous Russian playwright, composer, and diplomat. Ekateriné's older sister Princess Sophie was married to Count Alexandr Nikolai, the minister of education of Imperial Russia.
On December 19, 1838 Ekateriné married the Hereditary Prince
Crown Prince
A crown prince or crown princess is the heir or heiress apparent to the throne in a royal or imperial monarchy. The wife of a crown prince is also titled crown princess....
of Megrelia, David Dadiani, who in two years became monarch of the principality after the retirement of his father, Levan V of Megrelia
Samegrelo
Samegrelo/Samargalo or Megrelia, Mingrelia is a historic province in the western part of Georgia, formerly also known as Odishi.It is inhabited by the Megrelians, an ethnic subgroup of the Georgians.-Geography and Climate:...
. In 1853 David died and Ekateriné quickly assumed the responsibilities of her late husband, rising from relative obscurity. Recognizing her as regent
Regent
A regent, from the Latin regens "one who reigns", is a person selected to act as head of state because the ruler is a minor, not present, or debilitated. Currently there are only two ruling Regencies in the world, sovereign Liechtenstein and the Malaysian constitutive state of Terengganu...
of Megrelia
Samegrelo
Samegrelo/Samargalo or Megrelia, Mingrelia is a historic province in the western part of Georgia, formerly also known as Odishi.It is inhabited by the Megrelians, an ethnic subgroup of the Georgians.-Geography and Climate:...
on behalf of her son Prince Niko
Niko Dadiani, Prince of Megrelia
Nikolas Dadiani was the last ruling prince of the Western Georgian Principality of Megrelia in southeastern Europe. After the formal abolition of his principality by Russia, he served as a general in the Imperial Russian Army.-Family:Niko was born to Prince David of Megrelia and his wife Ekaterine...
, Nicholas I of Russia
Nicholas I of Russia
Nicholas I , was the Emperor of Russia from 1825 until 1855, known as one of the most reactionary of the Russian monarchs. On the eve of his death, the Russian Empire reached its historical zenith spanning over 20 million square kilometers...
assigned her a regency council
Regency Council
right|thumb|Regency Council: Ostrowski, Kakowski, LubomirskiThe Regency Council of the Kingdom of Poland was a semi-independent and temporary highest authority during World War I, formed by Germany and Austria-Hungary in the occupied Polish territories in September 1917. It was supposed to stay...
which included the brothers of her late husband, Prince Gregory and Prince Constantine.
Instability during the Crimean War
During the Crimean WarCrimean War
The Crimean War was a conflict fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the French Empire, the British Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and the Kingdom of Sardinia. The war was part of a long-running contest between the major European powers for influence over territories of the declining...
, Turks sent a considerable force to Megrelia, occupying significant parts of the principality and forcing Ekateriné to flee for security reasons. She soon received a threatening letter from the commanding Turkish general Omar Pasha
Omar Pasha
Omar Pasha Latas was a Ottoman general and governor. He was a Serb convert to Islam, who managed to quickly climb in Ottoman ranks, crush several rebellions throughout the Empire and defeat Russia the Crimean War.-Early life:...
demanding her surrender, as well as the transfer of her son's principality to the Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
. Refusing to dignify Pasha's
Omar Pasha
Omar Pasha Latas was a Ottoman general and governor. He was a Serb convert to Islam, who managed to quickly climb in Ottoman ranks, crush several rebellions throughout the Empire and defeat Russia the Crimean War.-Early life:...
letter with an answer, Ekateriné assumed control of the Megrelian forces and organized successful counter-attacks which inflicted serious damage on the invading Turks.
The Crimean War
Crimean War
The Crimean War was a conflict fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the French Empire, the British Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and the Kingdom of Sardinia. The war was part of a long-running contest between the major European powers for influence over territories of the declining...
soon ended in 1856 with the Treaty of Paris
Treaty of Paris (1856)
The Treaty of Paris of 1856 settled the Crimean War between Russia and an alliance of the Ottoman Empire, the British Empire, Second French Empire, and the Kingdom of Sardinia. The treaty, signed on March 30, 1856 at the Congress of Paris, made the Black Sea neutral territory, closing it to all...
and Princess Dadiani was re-instated as regent, receiving an invitation to the coronation
Coronation
A coronation is a ceremony marking the formal investiture of a monarch and/or their consort with regal power, usually involving the placement of a crown upon their head and the presentation of other items of regalia...
of Emperor Alexander II of Russia
Alexander II of Russia
Alexander II , also known as Alexander the Liberator was the Emperor of the Russian Empire from 3 March 1855 until his assassination in 1881...
. She attended the ceremony with her children, as well as her sister, Nino. According to the Russian memoirist K.A. Borozdin, Ekateriné retained "the luster of her beauty" and looked extraordinary in her "original and richly decorated costume." The memoirist, like many others in modern-day Georgia, refers to Princess Dadiani as the "Megrelian Queen" and states that at the coronation ball everyone was "delighted with (Ekateriné), her sister, children, and entourage."
Megrelian Rebellion and the Russian encroachment
In 1856 Ekateriné left the Megrelian principality to General George Dadiani and moved to live in Tsarskoe Selo, the residence of the Russian Imperial Family, where she became one of the "ladies of the court." In 1857 she was forced to return to Georgia because of the peasant uprising organized by a Megrelian smith, Uta Miqava. On May 12, the rebels took control of the province's capital ZugdidZugdidi
Zugdidi is a city in the Western Georgian historical province of Samegrelo . It is situated in the north-west of that province. The city is located 318 kilometres west of Tbilisi, 30 km. from Black sea coast and 30 km. from Egrisi range. 100-110 metres above sea level. As of 2007, it had a...
, forcing Princess Dadiani to request help from Russia. Having already effectively annexed
Annexation
Annexation is the de jure incorporation of some territory into another geo-political entity . Usually, it is implied that the territory and population being annexed is the smaller, more peripheral, and weaker of the two merging entities, barring physical size...
Eastern Georgia, Russia eagerly intervened, subdued the uprising, and asked Ekateriné to move to Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...
on the pretext of facilitating her children's education and upbringing there. Her departure and the establishment of a "temporary" Russian military authority in Megrelia marked the de facto
De facto
De facto is a Latin expression that means "concerning fact." In law, it often means "in practice but not necessarily ordained by law" or "in practice or actuality, but not officially established." It is commonly used in contrast to de jure when referring to matters of law, governance, or...
abolition of the principality.
Final years
After moving to Russia, Ekateriné kept her private salonSalon (gathering)
A salon is a gathering of people under the roof of an inspiring host, held partly to amuse one another and partly to refine taste and increase their knowledge of the participants through conversation. These gatherings often consciously followed Horace's definition of the aims of poetry, "either to...
in Tsarskoe Selo open to the Georgian and Russian intelligentsia
Intelligentsia
The intelligentsia is a social class of people engaged in complex, mental and creative labor directed to the development and dissemination of culture, encompassing intellectuals and social groups close to them...
. After living there for nearly ten years, she moved to Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
where her daughter Princess Salomé already lived with her French husband, Prince Achille Murat. In the final years of her life, Princess Ekateriné moved back to Western Georgia, then officially part of the Russian Empire
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
, and lived there to the end. She was interred in the medieval Eastern Orthodox
Eastern Orthodox Church
The Orthodox Church, officially called the Orthodox Catholic Church and commonly referred to as the Eastern Orthodox Church, is the second largest Christian denomination in the world, with an estimated 300 million adherents mainly in the countries of Belarus, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Georgia, Greece,...
monastery of Martvili
Martvili
Martvili is a small town in Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti province of Western Georgia. Its monastery was Samegrelo's clerical centre in the Middle Ages...
.
Issue
| Image | Name | Birth | Death | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prince Nikolas Niko Dadiani, Prince of Megrelia Nikolas Dadiani was the last ruling prince of the Western Georgian Principality of Megrelia in southeastern Europe. After the formal abolition of his principality by Russia, he served as a general in the Imperial Russian Army.-Family:Niko was born to Prince David of Megrelia and his wife Ekaterine... |
4 January 1847 | 22 January 1903 | Elder son | |
 |
Prince Andria Andria Dadiani Andria Dadiani , , known in Russia as Andrey Davidovich Dadian-Mingrelsky , was a Georgian nobleman and a chess player.... |
|1850 | 1910 | Younger son |
| Princess Salomé Salome Dadiani Salome Dadiani was a Georgian princess and the daughter of David Dadiani , Prince of Mingrelia. She accompanied her mother Ekaterine, the last ruling Princess of Mingrelia in her visit to Paris in 1868 and married Prince Archille Murat , the grandson of Marshal Joachim Murat, on 13 May 1868... |
12 January 1848 | 27 July 1913 | Daughter |