Grigori Rasputin
Grigori Rasputin was a mystical advisor and key figure in the court of Nicholas II, and he had a particularly close relationship with Tsarina Alexandra. Rasputin, as he’s commonly called, was born into a poor family in Siberia. He attempted to become a monk, but failed. He did not, as a boy, learn to read or write. When he left the monastery, he married and traveled, visiting modern-day Israel several times.
Rasputin arrived in St. Petersburg in 1903. He had already gained a reputation as a mystic and healer. He met the royal family two years later, and was embraced by the Tsarina, who believed he could cure her hemophiliac son, Alexei. The press soon began to report on his influence over the Tsarina, calling him the Mad Monk; however, there is little evidence that he played any such significant role. In fact, his influence was largely limited to the care and health of the child. Regardless of the limits of his actual influence, Tsarina Alexandra routinely defended him, even to her own detriment.
Rasputin predicted Russian failure in World War I, and became even more hated during 1915 and 1916. In December 1916, Rasputin was first (perhaps) poisoned, then shot three times, wrapped in a rug, and thrown in the river. Not long before his death, in a letter to Nicholas II, he predicted that his own death would lead to the deaths of the entire royal family. Nicholas II and his entire family were, of course, killed during the Revolution in 1918.
Rasputin has, over time, gained a particularly bad reputation. This reputation was a contemporary one, and almost certainly contributed to the widespread hatred of Tsarina Alexandra. His reputation was not an entirely fair one. In fact, Rasputin encouraged Alexandra to address the food shortages in Petrograd during the war, aware of the suffering of the peasants.