Hi rockzmom, long time no see!

So, as usual, there's a nice wikipedia article Grigori Rasputin - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, but in a nutshell, he was a controversial figure who was close to the Russian Royal family and was generally despised by the public. That caused enormous emotional tension between the public and the Russian Royalty. The tension ultimately played in favour of the fall of the Russian monarchy and the establishment of the Republic in March 1917.