Grigori Rasputin
Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin was a Siberian peasant mystic who became the most controversial figure in the court of Tsar Nicholas II. Born in Pokrovskoye in western Siberia, he arrived in St Petersburg around 1905 with a reputation as a faith healer and holy wanderer (starets). His apparent ability to ease the bleeding episodes of the haemophiliac Tsarevich Alexei gave him an extraordinary hold over Empress Alexandra, who believed him divinely sent. From 1906 onwards he wielded growing influence at court, recommending and dismissing government ministers in what critics called a 'ministerial leapfrog' that paralysed imperial administration during the First World War. His dissolute lifestyle, rumoured sexual misconduct, and perceived control over the empress fed a scandal that discredited the Romanov dynasty among nobles, conservatives, and liberals alike. On the night of 29–30 December 1916 (OS) he was murdered at the Yusupov Palace in Petrograd by a group of conspirators led by Prince Felix Yusupov and the Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich, who believed his removal would save the monarchy. His death came too late: the regime he had helped undermine collapsed within ten weeks.
- Lived: 1869 CE – 1916 CE
- Nationality: Russian
- Roles: religious figure, court advisor
