Bagrationi settled permanently in Georgia's capital of
Tbilisi in 2003 and obtained dual citizenship from Georgia in 2004. He has also been an
altar server to
Ilia II,
Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia. In January 2008, Bagrationi announced his father's death, declaring himself to be his father's successor as the
patrilineal head of the Georgian royal family while his elder brother, Irakly, continued to reside in Spain. As such his supporters recognize him as Royal Prince of Kartli and Hereditary Prince of the sovereign principality (
satavado) of
Mukhrani. Bagrationi's paternal grandfather,
Prince Irakly Bagration-Mukhransky, had claimed headship of the
Bagrationi dynasty in 1957 and, as such, the additional designations of Prince and Head of the Royal House of Georgia, of
Kartalia, and of
Mukhrani, Duke of the Lasos, Sovereign Head and
Grand Master of the
Order of the Eagle of Georgia and of the
Order of the Queen-Saint Tamara, styles which his grandson also claims. During the
Russia–Georgia war over
South Ossetia in August 2008, Bagrationi accompanied
Georgian soldiers to the front-line to render moral support. He commented afterwards that he regretted Georgia "had to pay such a high price to show the world the true face of Russia," and issued a message to the Georgian nation. Bagrationi believes that restoration of monarchy in Georgia is not an option at this time because of ongoing Russian occupation of parts of the country; and it is up to the people of Georgia to decide when the monarchy should be restored. On 16 December 2018 Prince David was invited to the inauguration of Georgia's first female President,
Salome Zourabichvili, Prince David has been involved in numerous Georgian cultural and other broadly humanitarian charities, including one of the largest fundraisers in GoFundMe history, when the joined arms with massively popular Instagram influencer Tommy Marcus (aka meme activist Qarantino) and UNWTO ambassador Shiv Shanker Nair\ raised $7 million to rescue some 2000 death marked Afghan reformers from the Taliban. Prince David was the "First Godfather" at the marriage the last Russian "Tsar's Heir, Grand Duke George of Russia to Victoria Bettarini. David's grandfather and George's grandmother were siblings. The October 1, 2021 religious ceremony was widely covered by the international media and was attended by many European royal families and other notables. ==Marriage and divorce==