Prince Paata was a royal bastard, an extramarital son of King Vakhtang VI of Kartli (also known as Husayn-Qoli Khan), born of an unknown concubine in 1720.
[1] In January 1749, Paata, embittered by life on an insignificant pension,[2] escaped from Russia and arrived, via Riga, Mitava, and Memel, in Königsberg and sought, in vain, to enter the service of Frederick II of Prussia.
[3] He was pardoned by Heraclius II, now sitting on the throne of both Kartli and Kakheti, and appointed a military adviser to the king and then, governor (mouravi) of Tbilisi.
Furthermore, the leading noble families, such as the Tsitsishvili and Amilakhvari, resented Heraclius's decision to settle former Georgian slaves liberated from foreign captivity as freemen on royal land, rather than returning these peasants as serfs to their former landlords.
[2][3][6] Datuna, an artisan from Samshvilde and the husband of a royal nursemaid, who was to guide the conspirators into the king's palace, admitted to being part of the plot in a confession to a priest, who immediately informed Heraclius.