Ekaterine Chavchavadze

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Ekaterine Dadiani, Princess of Megrelia
)
Ekateriné Dadiani-Chavchavadze
Princess of Mingrelia
Portrait by Franz Xaver Winterhalter
Born(1816-03-19)March 19, 1816
Tsinandali
DiedAugust 25, 1882(1882-08-25) (aged 66)
SpouseDavid Dadiani, Prince of Mingrelia
IssuePrince Niko
Princess Salomé
Prince Andria
Names
Ekateriné Alexandres asuli Dadiani-Chavchavadze
HouseChavchavadze
FatherPrince Alexander Chavchavadze
MotherPrincess Salomé Orbeliani

Ekateriné Dadiani, Princess of Mingrelia (

ruling princess (as regent) Principality of Mingrelia in Western Georgia. She was regent during the minority of her son between 1853 and 1857. She played an important role in resisting Ottoman
influence in her principality and was at the center of Georgian high society, both inside the country and abroad.

Family and marriage

Ekateriné's father, Prince Alexander Chavchavadze
Her spouse, David Dadiani, Prince of Mingrelia

Ekateriné was born to the distinguished

Imperial Russia.[2]

On December 19, 1838, Ekateriné married the Hereditary Prince of Mingrelia, David Dadiani. In 1840, he became ruler of the principality upon the retirement of his father, Levan V Dadiani.[3]

In August 1853, David died and Ekateriné quickly assumed the responsibilities of her late husband, rising from relative obscurity. Recognizing her as

regency council which included her late husband's brothers, Prince Grigol Dadiani and Prince Konstantin Dadiani
.

Instability during the Crimean War

During the Crimean War, the Turks sent a considerable force to Mingrelia, 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 a response, Ekateriné assumed control of the Mingrelian forces and organized successful counter-attacks that inflicted serious damage on the invading Turks.

The

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 her as the "Mingrelian Queen" and states that at the coronation ball, everyone was "delighted with [Ekateriné], her sister, children, and entourage."

Mingrelian rebellion and Russian encroachment

Ekateriné at the coronation ball in the Winter Palace
Tsarskoe Selo

In 1856, Ekateriné left the Mingrelian principality to General

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 Mingrelian smith, Uta Miqava. On May 12, the rebels took control of the province's capital Zugdidi, forcing Ekateriné 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 Mingrelia marked the de facto abolition of the principality.[3]

Final years

After moving to Russia, Ekateriné kept her private

Prince Achille Murat. In the final years of her life, 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
.

Issue

Image Name Birth Death
Princess Maria 1840 1842
Princess Nina 1841 1848
Prince Levan 1842 1844
Prince Niko 4 January 1847 22 January 1903
Princess Salomé 12 January 1848 27 July 1913
Prince Andria 1850 1910
Princess Tamara 1853 1859

References

  1. ISBN 0-89875-672-3
    , p. 175
  2. ISBN 0-89875-672-3
    , p. 181
  3. ^ a b c Office of Policy & Analysis, Dadiani Dynasty – David Dadiani Archived 2011-08-11 at the Wayback Machine, The Smithsonian Institution in Association with the National Parliamentary Library of Georgia, retrieved 27 March 2011
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