Tvrtko III of Bosnia (Differently)

Tvrtko III
King of Bosnia
Reign	17 January 1887 – 20 March 1899
Predecessor	Dabiša II (1498)
Successor	Stephen IX
Born	4 January 1847 Zugdidi, Mingrelia, Georgia
Died	20 March 1899 (aged 52)
Issue	Princess Ekaterina Stephen IX Princess Salomea
House	Dadiani
Father	David Dadiani
Mother	Ekaterina Chavchavadze
Religion	Georgian Orthodox Christianity

Tvrtko III (Nikolay Davidovich Dadian-Mingrelsky; January 4, 1847 – March 20, 1899) was a Georgian noble who was King of Bosnia from 1887 until his asssassination in 1899. He was the first King of an independent Bosnian state since Dabiša II in 1498.

Life in Russia

Niko Dadiani was born in Zugdidi, Mingrelia's capital, in 1847. Niko was six years old in August 1853, when his father died, and became Prince of Mingrelia as an autonomous subject of the Russian Empire. With the approval of Tsar Nicholas I, Niko was placed under the regency of his mother, Princess Ekaterina; the Russian bureaucrat Kornely Borozdin was assigned to him as a tutor. The regency council also included Niko's paternal uncles, Grigol and Konstantin.

Niko remained in St. Petersburg, enjoying the favor of the imperial family even after his mother hurried home due to a peasant revolt in Mingrelia in May 1857. The revolt was exploited by the Russian government as a pretext to recall Princess Ekaterina back to St. Petersburg and to place the hitherto autonomous principality under a provisional Russian administration. Niko Dadiani was then sent for further education in Paris. On his return, Niko, persuaded to accept a fait accompli, renounced his hereditary title of Prince Regnant of Mingrelia on 4 January 1867.

Bosnia

Nicholas's initial years showed promise that Bosnia might keep this independence. He established the Bosnian Railroad Association, which built the Transnational Railway and greatly improved infrastructure. After a decade on the throne, the king even started to improve relations with Austria-Hungary.