| Davit' (David) Bagration of Moukhrani | |
|---|---|
| Pretender | |
| Born | 24 June 1976 Madrid, Spain |
| Regnal name claimed | David XIII |
| Title(s) | Duke of the Lasos, Prince of Kakheti, Kartli and Mukhrani |
| Throne(s) claimed | Georgia |
| Pretend from | 16 January 2008 - present (4 years, 50 days) |
| Monarchy abolished | 1800 |
| Last monarch | George XII of Georgia |
| Connection with | Distant cousin |
| Royal House | Bagrationi |
| Father | Jorge de Bagration |
| Mother | Doña María de las Mercedes de Zornoza y Ponce de León |
| Spouse | Princess Anna Bagration-Gruzinsky (m. 2009) |
| Children | Prince Giorgi Bagration-Bagrationi (b. 2011) |
| Predecessor | Jorge de Bagration |
David Bagrationi of Moukhrani, David Bagration de Moukhrani y de Zornoza, or Davit' Bagration-Mukhraneli (Georgian: დავით ბაგრატიონ-მუხრანელი) (born June 24, 1976) is a claimant to the headship of the Royal House of Georgia and to the historical thrones of Georgia, succeeding on the death of his father Jorge de Bagration on January 16, 2008.
Contents |
David was born as the second son of Prince Jorge by his first wife Doña María de las Mercedes de Zornoza y Ponce de León in Madrid, Spain. David also has one older sister, Maria-Antonietta, one older brother, Irakli, and a younger half-brother, Gourami (Ugo).[1]
David settled permanently in Georgia’s capital of Tbilisi in 2003 and obtained dual citizenship from Georgia in 2004. He also serves as an altar server to Ilia II, Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia.
In 2007, David succeeded his father as patrilineal head of the Bagrationi dynasty,[2] after his elder brother, Irakli, renounced the headship. As such, he asserts the right to inherit the throne, were it restored, of the united kingdom of Georgia, as well as inheritance of the designations: Dynastic Heir, Heir to the titles of Duke of the Lasos and Prince of Kakheti, Kartalia and Mukhrani and Head of the Family Council.[1]
As Head of the Royal family, he is the Grand Master of the following Bagration dynastic orders:
During the Russian–Georgian war over South Ossetia in August 2008, Prince David accompanied the Georgian soldiers to the frontline to render moral support. He commented afterwards that he regretted Georgia "had to pay such a high price to show the world the true face of Russia."[6] and issued a special message to the Georgian nation. Prince David considers restoration of monarchy in Georgia is not an option at this time because of ongoing Russian occupation of parts of the country; and it is up to the people of Georgia to decide when the monarchy should be restored.[6]
Prince David Bagration of Mukhrani married Princess Anna Bagration-Gruzinsky on 8 February 2009 at the Tbilisi Sameba Cathedral. The marriage united the Gruzinsky (Kakheti) and Moukhransky (Mukhraneli) branches of the Georgian royal family, and drew a crowd of 3,000 spectators, officials, and foreign diplomats, as well as extensive coverage by the Georgian media.[7]
The dynastic significance of the wedding lay in the fact that, amidst the turmoil in political partisanship that has roiled Georgia since its independence in 1991, Patriarch Ilia II of Georgia publicly called for restoration of the monarchy as a path toward national unity in October 2007.[8] Although this led some politicians and parties to entertain the notion of a Georgian constitutional monarchy, competition arose among the old dynasty's princes and supporters, as historians and jurists debated which Bagrationi has the strongest hereditary right to a throne that has been vacant for two centuries.[7] Although some Georgian monarchists support the Gruzinsky Royal branch's claim, others support that of the re-patriated Mukhrani branch.[8] Both branches descend in unbroken, legitimate male line from the medieval kings of Georgia down to Constantine II of Georgia who died in 1505.
Whereas the Bagration-Mukhrani (Bagrationi-Mukhraneli) was a cadet branch of the former Royal House of Kartli, they became the genealogically seniormost line of the Bagrationi family in the early 20th century: yet the elder branch had lost the rule of Kartli by 1724.[9]
Meanwhile, the Bagration-Gruzinsky line, although junior to the Princes of Mukhrani genealogically, reigned over the kingdom of Kakheti, re-united the two realms in the kingdom of Kartli-Kakheti in 1762, and did not lose sovereignty until Russian annexation in 1800.[10]
The bridegroom is the only member of his branch who retains Georgian citizenship and residence since the death of his father, Prince George (Jorge) Bagration-Mukhrani in 2008.[10] Aside from his unmarried elder brother, Prince David is the heir male of the Bagration family, while the bride's father is the most senior descendant of the last Bagrationi to reign over the united kingdom of Georgia.[11] Since Nugzar and Princes Peter and Eugene Bagration-Gruzinsky are the last patrilineal males descended from King George XII, and all three were born before 1950, their branch verges on extinction.[11] But the marriage between Nugzar Gruzinsky's heiress and the Mukhrani heir resolves their rivalry for the claim to the throne, which has divided Georgian monarchists.[10] A son born of this marriage is apt to eventually become both the heir male of the House of Bagration and the heir general of George XII of Georgia.
The Georgia Times filed a story on 20 April 2009 stating that Prince David and Princess Anna were "on the verge of divorce" and no longer lived together. The father of Princess Anna, Prince Nugzar Bagration-Gruzinsky, confirmed that the marriage between his daughter and Prince David had indeed run into difficulties.[12]
On 3 August 2009, Russian news agency Blagovest reported that Prince David and Princess Anna had separated within a month of their marriage. Princess Anna's mother was quoted as saying that the Bagrationi family will not be commenting to the media on what they believe is a strictly private matter. The Blagovest article also stated that there is little chance of a reconciliation and that the marriage is effectively over.[13] However, it was subsequently reported that the couple were vacationing together in Venezuela in October 2009, two months after the separation story surfaced and nearly a year after the marriage.[14]
Georgian Interior Minister Vano Merabishvili stated in an interview published by Russian newspaper Kommersant on 7 April 2010 that the marital union of Prince David Bagration-Muhkransky and Princess Anna Bagration-Gruzinsky was arranged with the primary purpose of promoting the restoration of the Georgian monarchy under the Bagrationi. Therefore, according to Merabishvili, Princess Anna was forced to divorce her first husband Grigoriy Malania in order to allow her to wed Prince David. Merabishvili confirmed that the Bagrationi couple were no longer married.[15][16] However it was rumoured by the Georgian press that the couple has reconciled and is expecting their first child.[17] The royal couple's first child, prince George Bagration-Bagrationi was born on September 27, 2011.[18][19]
David Bagration descends in the direct, legitimate male line from a younger son of King Constantine II of Georgia.[20] When Constantine's eldest son inherited (his division of the realm) as King David X of Kartli, he gave Mukhrani, north of Tbilisi, in feudal appanage to his younger brother Bagrat-batonishvili, who thus became the first of his line to exercise palatine rights as the Mukhran-batoni or "Prince of Mukhrani".[21]
David's patriline is his descent from father to son. The Bagratid origin of David Soslan, king consort of Queen Tamar, is doubtful, although their descendants continued to reckon themselves members of that dynasty and rulers born of this lineage may have been descendants of some earlier rulers of the same lands.[22] Ossetian-originated sources in Caucasia indicate that David Soslan was from the Alan family of Tsarasanta - which thusly could pedantically be the right surname for later 'Bagrationi'. The male line follows the feudal Princes of Mukhrani, the Kings of Kartli, the Kings of Georgia and, by some reckoning, the early monarchs of Caucasian Iberia. Davit Soslan flourished in the last decades of the 12th century, which means a patriline of at least 800 years.
|
David Bagration of Mukhrani
Born: June 24 1976 |
||
| Titles in pretence | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Prince Giorgi Bagration-Mukhranski |
— TITULAR — King of Georgia January 16, 2008 – present Reason for succession failure: Kingdom incorportated into the Russian Empire in 1801 |
Incumbent Heir: Prince Giorgi Bagration Bagrationi |