Princess Ketevan of Georgia

Ketevan (Georgian: ქეთევანი; 1764 – 5 July 1840) was a Georgian princess royal (batonishvili), a daughter of Heraclius II, the penultimate king of Kartli and Kakheti, and the wife of Ioann, Prince of Mukhrani. Like her sisters, Mariam and Thecla, Ketevan was a poet of some talent and wrote in the spirit of early Romanticism.

Biography

Princess Ketevan was born in 1764 in the family of Heraclius II and his third wife Darejan Dadiani. She married, c. 1781, Ioane, Prince of Mukhrani (1755–1801), a prominent military and political figure of that time.^[1] After the Georgian kingdom was annexed by the Russian Empire in 1801, Ketevan was dispossessed of a hereditary village, Karaleti, near Gori. She was suspected by the Russian commander in Georgia, Prince Pavel Tsitsianov, of being implicated in the 1804 rebellion raised by the members of the ousted royal family of Georgia. The Russian agents, further, intercepted the letters (firman) sent by Fath Ali Shah of Persia and addressed to the Georgian dignitaries, including Ketevan's son Konstantin.^[2] As a result, Tsitsianov had Ketevan briefly arrested in 1805. During her imprisonment the princess wrote a lyric, "Alas how shall I say?" (ჰოი, ვითარ ვსთქვა), which uses Romanticist imagery to represent the collapse of the Georgian monarchy: she sees "a little cloud darkening Asia's stars, lying waste happy palaces, not letting beautiful gardens boom."^[3]

Family

Ketevan had 7 children of her marriage to Ioann I Bagration, Prince of Mukhrani. These were:

• Prince Konstantin (1782–7 September 1842), the last Prince of Mukhrani and lieutenant-general in the Russian service; married Pss Horeshan Guramishvili (1786-1831)
• Prince Teimuraz (1784–1833); married firstly Princess Orbeliani (d. 1820); married secondly Ekaterina Artyomovna Akimova (+before 1827)
• Prince Grigol (1787–25 February 1861), major-general in the Russian service; married Princess Mariam Tsereteli (1807-1877)
• Princess Barbara (1790–24 July 1843); married Prince Tornike Eristavi of Ksani (1770-1860)
• Prince David (1793–22 May 1878); married Princess Sofia Solomonovna Mkhargrdjeli-Argutashvili (d. 1834)
• Princess Tamar (1798–1851); married Prince Zachari Palavandishvili (b. 1796)
• Prince Irakli (1800–c. 1816).

Burke's Peerage's version of Ketevan's second marriage to Prince Abel Andronikashvili^[1] is not accepted as credible by more recent genealogies of the Georgian royal house.^[4]

Ancestry

Ancestors of Princess Ketevan of Georgia

16. David of Kakheti 8. Heraclius I of Kakheti 17. Elene Diasamidze 4. Teimuraz II of Georgia 18. Shermazan Cholokashvili 9. Ana Cholokashvili 2. Heraclius II of Georgia 20. Levan of Kartli 10. Vakhtang VI of Kartli 21. Tuta Gurieli 5. Tamar of Kartli 22. Kelchiko of Kabarda 11. Rusudan of Kabarda 1. Ketevan 24. Giorgi IV Dadiani 12. Bezhan I Dadiani 25. Sevdia Mikeladze 6. Katsia-Giorgi Dadiani 26. Gelovani 13. Tamar Gelovani 3. Darejan Dadiani