Demoralized Georgia may renew itself by restoring its monarchy

<body topmargin="0" leftmargin="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0"> <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" border="0" height="100%"><tr> <td valign="top" width="185" bgcolor="#003333" text="#F7F7FF" background="040b9c00dduajq.jpg"> <div> <b> <table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" width="70" bordercolorlight="#C0C0C0" bordercolordark="#808080" frame="BOX" rules="ALL" hspace="0" vspace="0"> <tr> <td valign="TOP" height="76" width="66"><img border="0" src="1x1.gif" height="76" align="bottom" width="66" hspace="0" vspace="0"></td> </tr> </table></b></div> <div> <b>The International Commission on Nobility and Royalty</b></div> <br> <div> <b>Disclaimer: These articles are a public service. The author's opinions are their own. They do not necessarily reflect the opinions of The International Commission on Nobility and Royalty. But we highly recommend them in general as they promote what we feel is highly  valuable and worthwhile.</b></div> <br> <div> <b>© Copyright 2005/2009</b></div> </td> <td valign="top" bgcolor="#FFFBF0" text="#080000"> <div> <font size="5" color="#000000" face="Arial"><b>The International Commission on Nobility and Royalty</b></font>    |     <a href="index_htm.html" target="_top" title="The International Commission on Nobility"><u>home</u></a></div> <br> <div> <font size="5" color="#BF0000" face="Arial"><b>Demoralized Georgia may renew itself by restoring its monarchy</b></font><b><img src="4756176e0.jpg" border="0" width="279" height="366" align="RIGHT" hspace="0" vspace="0"></b><b> <a name="monarchy"><img border="0" src="1x1.gif" height="1" align="bottom" width="1" hspace="0" vspace="0"></a></b></div> <div> By<font size="4" color="#0000FF" face="Arial"><b> </b></font><b>Gerald Warner</b><font size="3" color="#000000" face="Arial"> <b>(Aug 20, 2008) </b></font></div> <br> <div> <b>(This article has been alter slightly to reflect current realities) </b></div> <br> <div> As war-torn Georgia struggles to assert its sovereignty and redefine its identity, there is now a growing possibility that the country may have recourse to an option that has been simmering on the political agenda for the past 18 years by restoring its ancient monarchy and recalling the head of the Bagration dynasty to the throne.</div> <br> <div> Even before the Russian invasion this proposal was being canvassed within the past year. The Bagration dynasty is more than a thousand years old and was forcibly removed from the Georgian throne by Russia in 1801. The Georgian people never consented to the abolition of either their monarchy or their national sovereignty.</div> <br> <div> When the Soviet Union collapsed and Georgia declared independence, one of the earliest proposals for a constitutional settlement was the restoration of the monarchy. In 1991 the Georgian government and parliament officially recognised Prince George Bagration-<img src="4520d25e0.jpg" border="0" width="466" height="350" align="RIGHT" hspace="0" vspace="0">Moukhranski, formerly well known as a racing driver, as head of the royal house. The fact that they took the trouble to do so demonstrates that the monarchy was a substantive political issue.</div> <br> <div> During the civil war and general turbulence that ensued, the monarchic question was sidelined, though it never completely disappeared. Opinion polls showed wildly fluctuating public opinion on a restoration, varying from 2 per cent support to 45 per cent (with only 29 per cent opposed). </div> <br> <div> A succession of authoritarian presidents --- Gamsakhurdia, Shevardnadze and Saakashvili --- provoked a backlash against the power of the presidency. Lately the opposition parties have adopted the slogan "<b>Georgia without a President.</b>"</div> <br> <div> Democrats have been talking about monarchy on the British model and citing the example of<img src="45167dbf0.jpg" border="0" width="381" height="191" align="RIGHT" hspace="0" vspace="0"> King Juan Carlos in Spain to prove the practicability of a restoration. What brought things back to the boil, however, was a sermon preached by the head of the Georgian Orthodox Church, the Patriarch Illia II, on October 7 last year, in which he publicly called for the restoration of the monarchy as the "<b>desirable dream of the Georgian people</b>". That led to the question being debated in parliament.</div> <br> <div> Now the situation has been radically transformed. Mikheil Saakashvili is badly discredited. The nation may, for the moment, be rallying around him as a symbol of national identity, but that effect will not last long. His was the only political party in Georgia unambiguously opposed to a restoration, but it has little credibility now. In a time of defeat and suffering people are turning to the church, which is royalist.</div> <br> <div> <b><img src="45181f2c0.jpg" border="0" width="287" height="300" align="RIGHT" hspace="0" vspace="0"></b><font size="4" color="#000000" face="Arial">Georgia has no military options against Russia, its economy has been devastated, it lacks diplomatic leverage. Yet there is one politico-cultural gesture it could make to renew itself, to reassert its national identity, to unite around a non-partisan symbol, and that is to restore its monarchy. The fact that it was originally abolished by Russia would give added meaning to this act of constitutional renewal.</font></div> <br> <div> The head of the royal house, the <i>de jure</i> King is His Royal Highness Prince Nugzar Bagration-Gruzinsky, which is obvious from the genealogy and the fact that both he and his ancestors followed the international law by claiming and using their titles throughout all their generations. There were no abdications and no one ever renounced their rights. Hence, their "<b>de jure</b>" rights are intact. This is the only family that holds the full and complete "<b>de jure</b>" sovereign right to the throne according to both international and dynastic law. (See: "<font size="4" color="#BF0000" face="Benguiat Bk BT"><a href="history__sovereignty_and_the_royal_prerogative__the_future_of___de_jure__non_rei.html" target="_top" title="SOVEREIGNTY THE FUTURE OF NOBILITY AND "><u><b>Sovereignty & The Future of Nobility and Royalty</b></u></a></font>" and "<font size="4" color="#BF0000" face="Benguiat Bk BT"><a href="id70.html" target="_top" title="Dynastic Law"><u><b>Dynastic Law</b></u></a></font>")</div> <br> <div> (The above article on Georgia, with some slight changes, was published by <b>Telegraph.co.uk </b>on August 20, 2008 and can be seen at: <font size="4" color="#0000FF" face="Arial"><u><b><u>http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/gerald_warner/blog/2008/08/20</u></b></u></font></div> <div> <u><b><u>/demoralised_georgia_may_renew_itself_by_restoring_its_monarchy</u></b></u></div> <br> <div> <b>Royal Wedding gives Hope to Georgians </b></div> <br> <div> <b>(This article from "The Monarchist Initiative" and has been changed slightly to reflect current affairs)</b></div> <br> <div> A prince and a princess from Georgia's ancient Bagrationi dynasty were wed in a lavish ceremony in Tbilisi [Georgia's capital] on Sunday, bringing together two different lines of the royal house that once ruled this Caucasus nation.</div> <br> <div> Spanish-born Prince David Bagrationi-Mukhraneli, 32, and Princess Anna Bagrationi-Gruzinsky, 31, were married before hundreds of guests in Tbilisi's Trinity Cathedral as crowds of well-wishers gathered outside.</div> <br> <div> The marriage is expected to bring an end to a disagreement over who is the rightful heir to Georgia's centuries-old throne and to boost a campaign to transform this ex-Soviet republic into a constitutional monarchy.</div> <br> <div> The bride wore a flowing white dress and the groom was in traditional Georgian costume, with a khanjali dagger belted to his waist. Georgian flags waved in the background as the pair exchanged vows before a priest of the Georgian Orthodox Church.</div> <br> <div> Princess Anna’s father, HRH Prince Nugzar Bagrationi-Gruzinsky, said the wedding marked an historic day for his country. "<b>The most important thing is that this day will be beneficial for Georgia's future,</b>" he said.</div> <br> <div> The wedding was celebrated on the day Georgians commemorate King David the Builder, who ruled from 1089 to 1125 and is revered as the country's greatest king.</div> <br> <div> "<b>This is a double holiday as we are celebrating both King David's day and the wedding of representatives of our royal Bagrationi dynasty that was abolished by Russia,</b>" one of the guests, opposition Conservative party co-leader Zviad Dzidziguri, told journalists before the ceremony.</div> <br> <div> Claiming descent from the biblical King David, the Bagrationi dynasty ruled a large chunk of present-day Georgia from at least the 9th century until the country was absorbed into the Russian Empire in the early 19th century. A noble family in Tsarist Russia, many of the Bagrationis were scattered across Europe after the Bolshevik Revolution and the Soviet takeover of Georgia in 1921 following a brief period of independence. Many of those who stayed were killed or thrown into Soviet concentration camps. Various branches of the family have laid claim to the Georgian throne, with the Mukhraneli and Gruzinsky branches considered the most likely contenders.</div> <br> <div> David Bagrationi-Mukhraneli is the son of Jorge de Bagration y de Mukhrani, a prominent racing driver whose branch of the family settled in Spain after World War II. A cousin of Spain's King Juan Carlos, the father died in 2008 after settling in Tbilisi. Hr descends from an offshoot line of Princes who have not ruled since 1505 and have absolutely no "<b>de jure</b>" sovereignty. Hence, they are high nobles, rather than being royals.</div> <br> <div> Despite having spent his entire life in Spain and not speaking Georgian, David settled in Tbilisi in 2003 and obtained dual citizenship. His bride, Anna Bagrationi-Gruzinsky, is the daughter of HRH Prince Nugzar Bagrationi-Gruzinsky, a Tbilisi theatre director, who is the rightful heir to the throne through his ancestors. He is the rightful contentder.  His direct ancestors ruled from the 812 AD to 1800 and is the only salic descendent from the anointed King of Georgia. Dynastic law places him as the rightful heir.</div> <br> <div> The two houses have, however, disagreed over their claims, but any children from this marriage would obvious eventually resolve the dispute if the marriage survives.<img src="30cfa6910.jpg" border="0" width="166" height="145" align="RIGHT" hspace="0" vspace="0"></div> <br> <div> It comes as support is growing for Georgia to adopt a constitutional monarchy in place of the presidential system it adopted after gaining its independence with the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union. The influential patriarch of the Georgian Orthodox Church, His Holiness Ilia II, has promoted the restoration of the monarchy and a phone-in survey on Georgian Public Television showed more than 40 percent of callers backed the idea. </div> <br> <div> It is hoped that HRH Prince Nugzar may soon ascend to the throne of Georgia and be know as His Magesty King Ereckle III. Georgia would then have a constitutional monarchy and all the benefits that flow out of this great arrangement.</div> <br> <div> (2009: <font size="4" color="#0000FF" face="Arial"><a href="http://monarchists.blogspot.com/2009/02/royal-wedding-gives-hope-to-georgians.html" target="_top" title="http://monarchists.blogspot.com/2009/02/"><u><b><u>http://monarchists.blogspot.com/2009/02/royal</u></b></u></a></font></div> <div> <a href="http://monarchists.blogspot.com/2009/02/royal-wedding-gives-hope-to-georgians.html" target="_top" title="http://monarchists.blogspot.com/2009/02/"><u><b><u>-wedding-gives-hope-to-georgians.html</u></b></u></a><font size="4" color="#000000" face="Arial">)</font></div> <br> <div> <b>Other articles in this section:</b><font size="4" color="#000000" face="Arial"><img src="41db816b0.gif" border="0" width="129" height="107" align="RIGHT" hspace="0" vspace="0"></font></div> <br> <div> Article #1: "<font size="4" color="#0000FF" face="Arial"><a href="id70.html" target="_top" title="Dynastic Law"><u><b><u>Dynastic Law</u></b></u></a></font>" by Stephen P. 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