On his accession, Simon appeased Vakhtang's ambitions by granting him a fiefdom on the right bank of the Supsa River, with 500 households of serfs and vassal nobles.
Vakhtang then proceeded to seize the land holdings of the Jumati Monastery and defied his brother's authority.
[3] In 1805, he was ransomed by his younger brother Davit through the intervention of Solomon II of Imereti, who preferred more amenable Vakhtang on the throne of Guria.
Vakhtang's claims to principate were rejected, but through the intercession of Prince Pavel Tsitsianov, the Russian commander in Georgia, he was permitted to return to Guria, where he was restored in his erstwhile estates.
[2] Vakhtang Gurieli married, in 1798, Princess Mariam (died 1841), daughter of Prince Dimitri-Zaal Orbeliani.