He had the disease hemophilia. He inherited the disease from his mother. The disease can be traced back to his great grandmother Queen Victoria. His father gave up the throne in 1917 and his family was exiled and then murdered in Ekaterinburg in 1918. When Alexei was struggling with hemophilia a Russian Orthodox monk named Grigori Rasputin, commonly known as Rasputin, healed Alexei better than any doctor could. This might have led to the family's murder, because they were so fond of Rasputin. Once Rasputin was murdered, Alexei and his family were murdered only two years later. 