Who is Gregory Rasputin from Nicholas and Alexandra and what is their importance?

Rasputin was a Russian peasant who was said to be a faith healer. He was married and the father of three children. He did not renounce material goods or temptation as did other holy men which is why some people considered him to be fraudulent but he was well known across Russia. Rasputin was born and named Gregory Efimovich in the western Siberian village of Pokrovskoe, the son of a farmer who once worked as a coachman for the royal family. He earned the reputation of a seer when he identified a horse thief as a child. While working on the farm one day he told his father that he had a vision and had to make a pilgrimage.