Background
She was a daughter of Heraclius II, the penultimate king of Kartli and Kakheti, the wife of Prince Vakhtang Orbeliani, and mother of the Georgian literati, Alexander and Vakhtang Orbeliani. Tekle was born in 1776 in the family of Heraclius II and his third wife Darejan Dadiani.
Career
The king"s favorite daughter, Tekle was nicknamed by Heraclius a "tomboy" for her forceful character. She was made Lady of the Russian Order of Saint Catherine (Lesser Cross). The fate of Tekle"s family reflected the ambiguous situation the Georgian nobility found themselves with the arrival of the Russian rule.
Among a handful of surviving poems is a reaction to her sister"s despair, "In Response to Princess Ketevan" (პასუხად ქეთევან ბატონიშვილს).
In 1832 Tekle"s family in Tiflis became the meeting place of the Georgian nobles and intellectuals disaffected with the Russian overlordship. A planned coup aimed at restoring an independent Georgian monarchy was betrayed and the plotters were rounded up by the police.
She was, thereafter, allowed to return to Tiflis, where she died in 1846. She was buried at the Cathedral of the Living Pillar in Mtskheta.
Tekle married on 7 September 1800 Prince Vakhtang Orbeliani (1769-1761 March 1812), mouravi of Sagarejo and colonel in the Russian service.
They had four sons:
Alexander (3 May 1801 – 9 December 1869)
Nikoloz (born 1803)
Dimitri (1806–1882)
Vakhtang (5 April 1812 – 29 September 1890).