Rasputin's actual influence on the court was relatively negligible. He had some sway on the Tsarina, but Alexandra had limited power. Her German background was the subject of much negative aspersions during the war and her connection to this mystic added further credence that she was plotting to undo the Romanovs from within. A good majority of the Russian court saw him as a disreputable peasant social climber who attracted an unsavory element within the court. His access to the Tsarina meant that some ambitious hangers-on did try to curry favor with him, whether through money or sexual favors. These bribes backfired and Rasputin was seriously injured by a jilted female assassin on 29 July 1914, the day after the assassination of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand. Nicholas II did not like Rasputin personally, but humored him for his wife's sake and the fact that he seemed to have some control over Alexei's hemophilia. One of the most salient pieces of evidence for Rasputin's limited influence was that he always opposed Russia's entry into the war. That said, rumors of Rasputin's debauchery helped to sap the monarchy of its prestige and moral authority during a particularly acute time in Russian history. Before and after his death, many came forward to claim that Rasputin really ruled Russia, but this was largely a combination of scapegoating and scandal mongering. Pamphlets detailing the sexual degeneracy of Alexandra and Rasputin were huge sellers in the post-February popular literature when much of the censorship apparatus was dismantled. Thus while Rasputin the man had very little influence, his image had greater sway.

source

Figes, Orlando, and B. I. Kolonit︠s︡kiĭ. Interpreting the Russian Revolution: The Language and Symbols of 1917. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1999.