It’s likely a myth that Rasputin was sleeping with the czarina. (Although there’s no proof either way.) He had a very close relationship with the czar and czarina because their son had hemophilia, and Rasputin’s presence seemed to help his condition. It was a serious illness, and the parents were desperate for anything that could help. But the hemophilia was a secret so nobody outside the family knew why the czar and czarina kept Rasputin so close despite dangerous rumours that Rasputin was the one running Russian policy. The idea that Rasputin was sleeping with the czarina was a popular theory because Rasputin was a well-known horny motherfucker.
Oh yeah - the classic move of saving people from doctors! Everything I know about this is from the Revolutions podcast by Mike Duncan which suggested that Rasputin likely provided an emotionally-calming influence that probably helped.
I wouldn’t have been particularly surprised to find out a doctor tried it on orders from his desperate mother, but a lot of sources seem to agree that he did indeed order the doctors to stop giving the prince aspirin.
The theory is that he stopped them from giving him aspirin, because aspirin exasperates the condition and was also something that they would have likely given him since it was considered a cure-all.
It’s likely a myth that Rasputin was sleeping with the czarina. (Although there’s no proof either way.) He had a very close relationship with the czar and czarina because their son had hemophilia, and Rasputin’s presence seemed to help his condition. It was a serious illness, and the parents were desperate for anything that could help. But the hemophilia was a secret so nobody outside the family knew why the czar and czarina kept Rasputin so close despite dangerous rumours that Rasputin was the one running Russian policy. The idea that Rasputin was sleeping with the czarina was a popular theory because Rasputin was a well-known horny motherfucker.
If I remember right, the method by which Rasputin helped with the hemophilia symptoms was by stopping the doctors from using leeches.
EDIT: I did not, in fact, remember correctly. It was Aspirin.
Oh yeah - the classic move of saving people from doctors! Everything I know about this is from the Revolutions podcast by Mike Duncan which suggested that Rasputin likely provided an emotionally-calming influence that probably helped.
There are many theories
Doctors stopped bloodletting in the first part of the nineteenth century, long before Rasputin was around.
I wouldn’t have been particularly surprised to find out a doctor tried it on orders from his desperate mother, but a lot of sources seem to agree that he did indeed order the doctors to stop giving the prince aspirin.
The theory is that he stopped them from giving him aspirin, because aspirin exasperates the condition and was also something that they would have likely given him since it was considered a cure-all.