Princess Shuns Throne--if There Is One

Maria Paz Bagration is not your average princess. For a start, she does not want to be queen.

In fact, she is quite happy to continue working as a dentist in downtown Madrid. She has no pretensions to the throne of Georgia, which would rightfully belong to her or one of her family if the former Soviet republic decides it wants its monarchy back.

Last month, two Georgian political leaders arrived in Spain to meet the Bagrations and try to persuade them to return to their country and prepare for a future royal role.

“It’s not the right time to be talking about the monarchy,” Bagration said.

“The country has just emerged from 70 years of communism, and its first steps since have ended in a civil war,” she said.

Georgia is now being run by a military council that ousted president Zviad Gamsakhurdia in January after a bloody power struggle.

“We need to get the country out of its misery,” Bagration said. “The first thing is to hold new elections and then have a referendum, because we’re all talking about a monarchy, but maybe the people will decide they want a republic.”

Georgy Chanturia, leader of the Georgian National Democratic Party, and Temur Zhorzholiani, head of the Monarchist Party, agree on the need for a referendum.

After considering Bagration, her brother Jorge, a former race driver, and her other brother, Bagrat, they decided that they want to groom her 14-year-old schoolboy nephew as king.

“We have a very good candidate in Juan Bagration,” they said. “You can see in his face that he’s a Georgian, a real Bagration, and that God gave him a great mission.”

None of the Bagrations disputes their heritage--Maria Paz Bagration said the dynasty dates from the 6th Century to 1801, when Georgia was annexed by the Russian empire, and is one of the oldest in Europe.

But a naturalized Spanish woman of royalty and politicians of a still fledgling state do not yet see eye to eye.

“They were really after the children, and they just wanted to whisk away anyone, they didn’t care who,” said Maria Paz Bagration, 44. “It’s as if it were a raffle.”

She had thought they were coming with other representatives from across the political spectrum. “But they just came here representing their own two parties to try to win votes.

“And when they saw we wouldn’t play their game, they had a tantrum.”

The politicians were equally scathing, accusing Jorge of ignoring the suffering of Georgians after an earthquake killed about 180 last year.

They said they deeply regretted having to tell the people of Georgia that the Spanish Bagrations are discrediting their heritage and simply will not do.

“We’ve got to stop this nonsense,” Maria Paz Bagration said. “They used methods of the KGB--threats, intrigue, fabrications. They told me if I didn’t go back now, I wouldn’t be allowed back again, and if I tried to enter via Turkey they would stone me.”

She says she has no hard feelings and will keep in touch with her compatriots. “But even if the monarchy is restored, I don’t even think we’re talking about our children but a third generation.

“We’ve got to give people food to eat before we can start talking about the monarchy.”