After the death of George XII in December 1800, the Russian general
Ivan Lazarevich Lazarev issued the
Tsar Paul I's order to all the members of the royal family, beginning with Darejan, forbidding the nomination of any heir to the throne. After Paul's death in March 1801, Darejan applied to the new tsar,
Alexander I, to confirm her eldest son, Iulon, as the new king and protect her and her kin from harassment from George XII's heir
Prince David and his supporters. However, the Russian government proceeded with the outright annexation of the Georgian kingdom, bringing the millennium of the
Bagrationi rule in Georgia to an end. The Queen Dowager and her sons withdrew into opposition to the new regime; Iulon, Alexander, and Parnaoz were now in open rebellion. Darejan's every trip outside Tbilisi was closely watched by the Russian military. Eventually, Tsar Alexander ordered the commander in Georgia, General
Karl von Knorring, to deport all members of the royal family from Georgia for resettlement in Russia proper on 20 August 1802. The State Council confirmed the decision and instructed Knorring to "strengthen all measures for the transport of Queen Darejan and other members of the royal family to Russia, because their presence in Georgia will always be a cause and reason [for the development of] parties hostile" to the
Russian hegemony. Darejan's relations with Knorring were particularly tense. Once, the general angered her by wearing his hat and coat at her house and interrupting an interview at noon, declaring it was time for his
vodka. The task of deportation was to be fulfilled by Knorring's successor, General
Pavel Tsitsianov, himself of Georgian origin. In vain Darejan cited her illness to avoid exile. Tsitsianov responded that no reason would postpone her departure. She was further accused of "treasonous" correspondence with Russia's enemies and removing the venerated
icon of Ancha from a
church in Tbilisi. The Russian military had Darejan escorted on 25 October 1803 out of the estate of her grandson in
Mukhrani to her exile in Russia. Darejan, known to the Russians as the
tsaritsa Darya Georgyevna, was allowed to settle down in
Saint Petersburg, where she lived in a rented house in the parish of the Church of St. Simon and Anna. Later, the ailing queen was permitted to have a
house church, which was consecrated on 22 July 1804 and closed following the death of Darejan on 8 November 1807. Darejan, Queen Dowager of Georgia and Lady of the Russian
Order of Saint Catherine, Grand Cross, was buried at the
Annunciation Church of the
Alexander Nevsky Lavra. == Children ==