The deposed prince and his eldest sister Ekaterine remained in the Ottoman Empire under the auspices of Prince Machutadze. On 25 January 1832, through the intercession of Paskevich's successor in the Caucasus, Baron Rosen, the Gurian exiles were granted amnesty by Tsar Nicholas I and were allowed to their homeland as private citizens. On 15 September 1832, they landed at Guria's port of St. Nicholas. Rosen was impressed by David's manners and "moral qualities". The young Gurieli was granted a lifetime pension and sent to St. Petersburg to be enlisted in the Page Corps, where he completed his education in 1838. He was commissioned as a cornet of the Tsesarevich's Ataman Cossack Regiment of the Life Guards and sent to fight the Caucasian mountaineers led by Imam Shamil. He was killed in fighting on 23 August 1839, during the siege of Shamil's stronghold of Akhulgo. Unmarried and with no issue, David was the last in the direct princely line of the Gurieli dynasty.