After the assassination of his father, Giorgi and his brother Malakia fled to the protection of the Ottoman pasha of Akhaltsikhe, whose help he exploiting in securing the princely throne of Guria after the death of Demetre Gurieli in 1668.
Bagrat was defeated by the allies at Kutaisi and made a prisoner, but released after the pasha extracted a greater bribe from him and became convinced that taking the fortress of Kvara—where Tamar had taken refuge—was a futile endeavor.
[1] Archil, further, restored Bagrat's wife Tamar, an Imeretian femme fatale,[2] to her previous husband Levan III Dadiani, Prince of Mingrelia.
As Bagrat's only surviving heir Alexander, a natural son by a concubine, was held as a hostage in Kartli, Giorgi Gurieli was installed by the Imeretian nobles as their king.
In 1683, at their request, the pasha of Akhaltsikhe convinced King Giorgi XI of Kartli to release Bagrat the Blind's son Alexander from custody and secured the sultan's approval for his enthronement in Imereti.
Next year, he mounted a revolt of nobility against Alexander, involving Shoshita, Duke of Racha, Princes Lordkipanidze and Chijavadze, the nobles of Lechkhumi, and Giorgi Lipartiani, regent of Mingrelia.