Nicholas II with Alexandra and his five children

      In 1903, Tsarevich Alexei Romanov, the fifth child of Tsar Nikolai II and heir to the throne, was diagnosed with hemophilia, an inherited disease that prevents blood from clotting normally. It was passed down from his mother, Tsaritsa Alexandra. Alexandra was the granddaughter of Britain’s Queen Victoria, whose descendents, because royal marriages were common, spread hemophilia, "the curse of kings," through the royal houses of Germany, Russia, and Spain. Nikolai and Alexandra feared for the life of their only son, and sought out physicians and healers to help him. In 1905, after returning from another pilgrimage, Rasputin was brought before Nikolai and Alexandra’s court.

      Rasputin was brought to the Imperial court by Nikolai’s cousin, the Grand Duchess Anastasia, who had heard from the ladies of the church she attended of the pilgrim’s healing powers, and had immediately wanted to bring him to the tsar’s summer palace at Tsarskoe Selo. Though she had her doubts at first, Alexandra was similarly taken with his mysterious powers, as Rasputin seemed to stop a bout of Alexei’s internal bleeding almost immediately. There were members of the Romanov court who took a great liking to Rasputin, among them Anastasia’s sister Militza and Anya Vyrubova, Alexandra’s closest friend. According to some stories, Ms. Vyrubova had followed Rasputin after meeting him, and then gave him absolute devotion after he used his reputed powers of healing to call her to rise from a coma following a train derailment.

      It is not known exactly how Rasputin was able to cure Alexei’s symptoms. Several witnesses, including physicians and clergymen, believed he had a supernatural influence, and many people in Petersburg believed in his mysterious healing powers. It has since been suggested that Rasputin was able to hypnotize the boy in order to lower his heart rate and thus slow the bleeding to a stop. However it was accomplished, he did manage to help the tsarevich, and, in doing so, completely won the trust of the tsaritsa. The imperial family treated him well and granted him many amenities, and soon he became accepted in many areas of society, though he had fallen back into his habits of vulgarity and raucous sexual practices. When he was given an imperial residence, his daughters moved to Petersburg to live with him, though their presence did not change his behavior.

      Respect among the rest of the Romanov family did not come so easily for Rasputin. Nikolai’s sister, the Grand Duchess Olga despised his efforts to pry into her marriage and would have nothing to do with him. Most of Nikolai’s cousins avoided him. Nikolai was typically wary of him, and, at one point, tried to send him back to Siberia. Alexei, however, suffered another severe bout of internal bleeding soon after Rasputin was sent away, and Rasputin seemed to be able to heal him from the other side of the Ural Mountains by prayer. Alexandra convinced Nikolai to bring him back immediately. Alexandra encouraged Nikolai to "believe more in our friend," as she put it in a 1916 letter. "He lives for you and for Russia." Nikolai did eventually establish a relationship with Rasputin, and always publicly endorsed him.

Last updated 20 April 2004
Website and original content by Tyler Steven Whetstone, 2004