Ivan Makarovich Orbeliani

Prince Ivan Makarovich Orbeliani (9 September 1844 - 13 November 1919) was a Georgio-Russian general and governor of Kutaisi.

Biography

He was born as a member of one of the most important princely families of Georgia, the House of Orbeliani. His parents war Prince Mamuka Tomazovich of Orbeliani and Ketevan Princess Eristavi of Ksani. His family originated from Georgia, but was living also in Russia.

He was in the army since the 1860s. His first success was shown in the battles with the mountaineers and later he also took part in the Russian-Turkish war (1877–1878). As lieutnant he fought in the Caucas, in 1883 he was already a colonel and six years later a major-general. He was also the commander of the:

• Caucasian Military District (1892–1895)
• 2nd Brigade of the 2nd Caucasian Cossack Division (1895–1896)
• Terek Cossack Division (1896–1897)
• 2nd Brigade Volgskoy Cossack Terek Army (1897–1899)

He led the Russian army in the Russo-Japanese War.

Family and descendants

He married 1872 in Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia, his belorussian cousin Princess Maria Dmitrievna Svyatopolk-Mirsky (1856–1899), the daughter of the famous Russian general Prince Dmitry Ivanovitch Sviatopolk-Mirskii and his wife Princess Sophia Yacovlevna Orbeliani (30 May 1825 – 9 June 1898). In this marriage three children were born:

• Prince Mamuka Ivanovich of Orbeliani (1873, Tbilisi - 1924). He married (1898 in Tbilisi) Princess Elisabeth Iraklievna Bagration of Georgia (27 October 1870 - 25 November 1942), the daughter of Prince Irakli Alexandrovich Bagration of Georgia (1826–1882) and Princess Thamar Chavchavadze (1852–1933).
• Princess Sonia Ivanovna Orbeliani (1875, St.Petersburg - 1915, Palace Tsarskoe Selo). She never married, but instead has dedicated herself to the Russian court. She was a mistress of the last Russian Tsar Nicholas II^{[citation needed]}. and later the first lady-in-waiting and a close friend of his wife Tsarina Alexandra Feodorovna (Alix of Hesse).
• Prince Dmitry Ivanovich Orbeliani (1875, Mir, Belarus - 1922, London). A personal assistant of the Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich of Russia. Dmitry married (1900 in St. Petersburg) Countess Vera von Kleinmichel (1877, St. Petersburg - 1948, Malta). They had an only daughter Princess Galena Dmitryevna Orbeliani (b. 5 May 1922), who was born soon after her father's death.

Prince Ivan died in 1919 and was buried at the Svetitskhoveli Cathedral in Mtskheta, Georgia.