PETER NIKOLAEVICH
Grand duke 1864-1931
Married to Princess Milica of Montenegro, who with her sister Princess Anastasia became known in St Petersburg society as the “black sisters” for their raven hair and mystical inclinations, Peter took their reputation and mission as his own. Soon Peter and his wife were referred to as “the black peril”, inviting a succession of occultists and faith healers first to their home and then later to the Imperial court, where his cousin Nicholas II was desperate for any relief from Tsarevich Alexei’s haemophilia. Among them was one Grigori Rasputin.