Georgian Royalty, Duchess Regent of Mingrelia. Born Ekaterine Alexandres Asuli Dadiani-Chavchavadze, she was a daughter of the Georgian poet and general Alexander Chavchavadze. She was the last ruling Duchess of the Western Georgian Duchy of Mingrelia by virtue of her husband, the Hereditary Prince of Mingrelia, David Dadiani, who she married on December 19, 1838. She played an important role in resisting Ottoman influence in her principality and was at the center of Georgian high society, both inside the country and abroad. During the Crimean War, the Otttoman Turks sent a considerable force to Mingrelia, occupying significant parts of the principality, forcing her to flee. She then received a threatening letter from the commanding Turkish general Omar Pasha demanding her surrender, as well as the transfer of her son's principality to the Ottoman Empire. Refusing to dignify Pasha's letter with a response, she assumed control of the Mingrelian forces and organized successful counterattacks that inflicted serious damage on the invading Ottoman Turkish army. After the Crimean War, she moved to Tsarskoe Selo, the residence of the Russian Imperial Family, where she became one of the ladies of the court. The following year, she was forced to return to Georgia because of the peasant uprising organized by a Mingrelian smith, Uta Miqava. The rebels took control of the province's capital Zugdidi, forcing her to request help from Imperial Russia. Having already effectively annexed Eastern Georgia, Russia eagerly intervened, subdued the uprising, and asked her to move to Saint Petersburg on the pretext of facilitating her children's education and upbringing there. After returning to Russia, she kept her private salon in Tsarskoe Selo open to the Georgian and Russian scholars. Ten years later, she moved to Paris, France where her daughter Princess Salome already lived with her French husband, Prince Achille Murat. In the final years of her life, she returned to Western Georgia, then officially part of the Russian Empire, and died there at the age of 66.