Prince Alexander of Georgia

Prince Alexander of Georgia
Born1770
Kingdom of Kartli-Kakheti
Died1844
Tehran, Persia
IssueIrakli Gruzinsky
DynastyBagrationi dynasty
FatherHeraclius II of Georgia
MotherDarejan Dadiani
ReligionGeorgian Orthodox Church

Prince Alexander of Georgia (Georgian: ალექსანდრე ბატონიშვილი, aleksandre batonishvili; 1770–1844) was a Georgian royal prince (batonishvili) of the Bagrationi dynasty, who headed several insurrections against the Russian rule in Georgia. He was known as Eskandar Mīrzā (اسکندرمیرزا) in Persia, tsarevich Aleksandr Irakliyevich (Царевич Александр Ираклиевич) in Russia, and Alexander Mirza in Western Europe.

Alexander was a son of the penultimate king of the Kingdom of Kartli-Kakheti in eastern Georgia, Heraclius II, who entrusted him various military and administrative tasks. After the death of Heraclius in 1798, he opposed the accession of his half-brother George XII and the new king's renewed quest for Russian protection. After the Russian annexation of Georgia in 1801, Alexander fled the country and spent decades in a series of attempts to undermine the Russian control of his homeland. Eventually, Alexander's reliance on the Persian support and North Caucasian mercenaries deprived him of popular support. After his last major rebellion was defeated in 1812, Alexander permanently settled in Persia, where he died in obscurity in 1844.