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The Rise of Rasputin: The Mad Monk Who Ran Russia

Khalid Elhassan March 3, 2025 18 min

10. Telling the Tsarina What She Wanted to Hear

Rasputing - Tsarina Alexandra — Tsarina Alexandra. Library of Congress

Tsarina Alexandra saw in Rasputinthe answer to her fervent prayers. From then on, nothing could shake her belief that he was blessed by God, and that his presence was vital to her family and for her son’s survival. Having impressed them with his “healing” abilities, Rasputin began offering advice to the Tsar and Tsarina, exerting influence on matters that were trivial and benign at first. Over time, however, his influence grew increasingly malign, and negatively impacted both the imperial family and the Russian Empire. Rasputin became a regular visitor to the imperial palace, and spent hours talking with the Tsarina about religion and other matters. He flattered Alexandra by telling her what she wanted to hear. Specifically, that she and her husband were beloved by Russia’s masses, and needed to be seen more by their adoring subjects.

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.