Monarchism in Georgia - Soviet Era and Post-Soviet Independence

Soviet Era and Post-Soviet Independence

The Democratic Republic of Georgia fell to Soviet Russia’s Red Army invasion in 1921. The subsequent political repressions, especially during the abortive August Uprising in 1924, forced many of the Bagrationi family members to flee the Soviet Union; some of them died in purges.

One of the émigrés, Prince Irakli of the House of Mukhrani (a collateral branch of the Bagrationi dynasty) (1909–1977), tried to enlist the support of European powers for a Georgian monarchist cause. After settling in Spain before World War II, Prince Irakli founded what he called the Royal House of Georgia and sought support from European governments for a Georgian monarchy independent from Stalin's Soviet Union. When Prince Irakli died in Spain in 1977, his son George became first in line to the royal house of Georgia and was recognised as such, albeit as a formality, by the government and parliament of the new independent republic in 1991, despite rival claims from others. The legitimate rights of the Mukhrani branch, albeit senior genealogically, to the throne have frequently been questioned, however, due to the fact that the patrilineal descendants of the last king of Georgia to reign – the Bagration-Gruzinsky – still survive in Georgia, although close to extinction. This line is represented by Prince Nugzar Bagration-Gruzinsky (born 1950), the heir male of Georgia's last reigning king, George XII.

However, the two branches acted to resolve this conflict by uniting through the marriage of Prince David Bagrationi-Mukhraneli with Nugzar's eldest daughter, Anna Bagration-Gruzinsky, in February 2009. Prince David and Princess Anna became the parents of a baby boy on September 27, 2011, Prince Giorgi Bagration Bagrationi who, in his person, potentially unites the Mukhraneli and Gruzinsky claims. If no other Bagrationi prince is born in either the Gruzinsky or Mukhraneli branch who is of senior descent by primogeniture, and he survives those now living, Prince Giorgi will become both the heir male of the House of Bagrationi and the heir general of George XIII of Georgia.

Nonetheless, speculation about the candidacy for a restored throne of other Bagrationis has occurred. Some monarchists have floated the name of Don Lelio Nicolò Orsini, a son of Don Raimondo Orsini and Princess Khétévane Bagration de Moukhrani, but Princess Khétévane herself rejected the idea as impossible.

As Georgia was moving towards independence from the Soviet Union early in the 1990s, monarchical restoration was an issue on the fringes of politics, but without actual candidates to a throne and popular support for monarchy. Various Georgian political groups tried to negotiate a return of Jorge de Bagration, Head of the Royal House of Georgia, and even sent a delegation to Madrid to persuade the reluctant prince. Some political activists, especially those associated with the National Democratic Party, speculated that a constitutional monarchy in Georgia would help abort any efforts by Moscow to keep Georgia inside the Soviet Union. After Georgia’s declaration of independence on April 9, 1991, weak and fractious opposition groups again raised the issue of restoration hoping to neutralize Zviad Gamsakhurdia, the first popularly elected President of Georgia, and his authoritarian tendencies.

During the rule of Eduard Shevardnadze (1992–2003), no serious consideration was given to monarchist ideas although several minor political parties, including the Union of Georgian Traditionalists led by the former parliamentary chairman Akaki Asatiani, continued to advocate constitutional monarchy as a viable alternative for Georgia's government.