The wavering character and incompetent political decisions of George II of Georgia, coupled with the Seljuq yoke, have brought the Kingdom of Georgia into a profound crisis, which climaxes in the aftermath of a disastrous earthquake that had struck Georgia in 1088.

George hands over the crown to his vigorous sixteen-year old son David in 1089.

This changeover is shrouded in mystery and is mentioned only in passing in the Georgian chronicles.

All that is recorded is that George crowned his son as king with his own hands, after which he disappears from the chronicle.

He was most probably forced by his nobles, in a palace coup masterminded by the powerful minister Bishop Giorgi Chkondideli, to abdicate in favor of David.

George is mentioned in prayers dated to 1203 as "king of kings, and caesar of all the East and West", suggesting that he was still alive and given some titles by his reigning son, but exercised no real power.