Grigore Mihail Sturdza, first name also Grigorie or Grigori, last name also Sturza, Stourdza, Sturd̦a, and Stourza (also known as Muklis Pasha, George Mukhlis, and Beizadea Vițel; May 11, 1821 – January 26, 1901), was a Moldavian, later Romanian soldier, politician, and adventurer. He was the son of Prince Mihail Sturdza, a scion of ancient boyardom, and, during the 1840s, an heir apparent to the Moldavian throne, for which he was known throughout his later life as Moldavia's Beizadea (junior prince). A rebellious youth famous for his feats of strength, he set up his own private militia which he used to corner the Moldavian grain trade, and entered a legal battle with Sardinian retailers. In 1845, he defied his father, and French law, by seeking to marry the much older, already married Countess Dash, and barricaded himself with her at Perieni. By 1847, Grigore had been reintegrated into the Moldavian establishment, and, as a general in the Moldavian princely militia, personally handled repression during the attempted revolution of April 1848. During these events, the Beizadea became personal enemies with three future statesmen—Alexandru Ioan Cuza, Mihail Kogălniceanu, and Manolache Costache Epureanu. Following Mihail Sturdza's ouster in 1849, Grigore joined the Ottoman army as a Colonel, and took part in the Crimean War, serving under Michał Czajkowski and Omar Pasha. A mounted sniper noted for his feats of extreme courage, he was advanced to Brigadier General. A plan, discussed by Czajkowski, had Sturdza placed in a command position for an offensive into Southern Bessarabia; this never materialized, though Sturdza served on the commission which awarded that region back to Moldavia, upon the end of the war. Grigore and Mihail Sturdza competed with each other for the princely election of 1858, with their rivalry playing a major part in the victory of a third candidate, Cuza. During the formation of the United Principalities in 1859–1864, Sturdza maintained conservative principles as a member of the Central Commission, thereafter alternating between loyal opposition in the Romanian Assembly of Deputies and anti-Cuza conspiracy, while being in particular adverse to Cuza's projected land reform. Himself a claimant to either the throne of a secessionist Moldavia or that of Romanian Domnitor, he participated in the "monstrous coalition" which managed to depose Cuza in early 1866. With the arrival of Carol I as Domnitor, Sturdza became leader of the "White" conservatives in Iași, also taking up the cause of