[1] Prince Irakli saw his first promotion to lieutenant in 1845 for his conduct during the expedition against the Lesgians in the Caucasus War, a year after his father died in exile in Tabriz.

He was recognized in the title of Prince (knyaz) Gruzinsky, literally, "of Georgia", in 1833 and granted the style of Serene Highness, for himself and his male-line descendants in 1865.

He was an object of romantic affection of Bertha von Suttner, an Austrian novelist and the first woman to become a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, but Prince Irakli did not reciprocate.

[2][3] Years later, von Suttner befriended Irakli's young wife Tamara, with whom she stayed during her visits to Tiflis and Paris.

She first became known to the larger public at the age of two when she was part of the Chavchavadze family abducted and held in captivity for ten months by Imam Shamil's men in 1854 during the Crimean War.