Vakhtang II Gurieli

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Vakhtang II Gurieli (Georgian: ვახტანგ II გურიელი; died 1814 or 1825) was a Georgian prince who ruled Guria in western Georgia from 1792 to 1797. He was the second son of Giorgi V Gurieli. After his elder brother Simon II abdicated in 1788, Simon gave Vakhtang a landholding and the chance to gain influence. Vakhtang soon seized more land and challenged his brother’s authority.

When Simon died in 1792, Vakhtang took control of Guria while the heir Mamia was still a child. He won recognition from King Solomon II of Imereti and Guria’s nobles. He tried to limit Mamia’s succession, but Marine, the princess-dowager, and Mamia found support with another brother, Kaikhosro. Kaikhosro used Vakhtang’s wavering during the 1794 Imeretian civil war and Vakhtang’s brief alliance with the Ottoman Empire to depose him in 1797.

Mamia became prince, with Kaikhosro and Marine as regents. Vakhtang was imprisoned, then exiled to the Imereti court. He later lost Solomon II’s favor and moved to Akhaltsikhe in the Ottoman Empire, where Selim Pasha imprisoned him in 1804 at Kaikhosro’s request. In 1805 his younger brother Davit, helped by Solomon II, secured his release. He sought Russian support, but the Russians rejected his claim; with help from Prince Pavel Tsitsianov, the Russian commander in Georgia, he was allowed to return to Guria and was restored to his estates.

Vakhtang married Princess Mariam Orbeliani in 1798; they had two sons and two daughters. Mariam died in 1841. Vakhtang’s exact date of death is given as 1814 or 1825.