Born at Pokrovskoe, in Tobolsk, Siberia, Rasputin, originally surnamed Novykh, was the illiterate son of a poor peasant and became a wandering "holy man". He acquired grteat power over the czarina, wife of Nicholas II, because of her faith in his power to cure her son the czarevich Alexei of his haemophilia.

The control he exercised through the czarina over political and ecclesiastical appointments, and his notorious debauchery (the nickname Rasputin means "libertine" or "debauchee") created a scandal which did much to the discredit of the monarchy. Rasputin remains one of the most complex historical figures scholars puzzle over - he was a sexual deviant (a bisexual) and man of God.

He was murdered by a group of nobles, namely the Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich, the Prince Jusupov, and the deputy Purisevich, who, (when poison had no effect) dumped him in the river Neva after shooting him.

Felix Yusupov was a bisexual man, in love with Grigori Rasputin, whose sexual magnetism was legendary. Dmitri Pavlovich was a close friend (and possible lover) of Felix Yusupov. He was a Romanov by blood, and was once in line to marry the Tsar's niece or daughter, until Rasputin revealed his homosexual tendencies to Nicholas II.