Rothschild family

The Rothschild family is a family descending from Mayer Amschel Rothschild, a court Jew to the German Landgraves of Hesse-Kassel, in the Free City of Frankfurt, who established his banking business in the 1760s. Unlike most previous court Jews, Rothschild managed to bequeath his wealth, and established an international banking family through his five sons.

Five lines of the Austrian branch of the family have been elevated to Austrian nobility, being given five hereditary titles of Barons of the Habsburg Empire by Emperor Francis II in 1816. Another line, of the British branch of the family, was elevated by Queen Victoria, who granted the family two hereditary titles of Baronet (1847) and Baron (1885).

During the 19th century, when it was at its height, the Rothschild family is believed by some to have possessed the largest private fortune in the world, as well as the largest private fortune in modern world history. The family's wealth is believed to have subsequently declined, as it was divided amongst hundreds of descendants. Today, Rothschild businesses are far less well known than they were throughout the 19th century, although they encompass a diverse range of fields, including finance, real estate, mining, energy, mixed farming, wine and charities.

Family overview

The first member of the family who was known to use the name "Rothschild" was Izaak Elchanan Rothschild, born in 1577. The name means "Red Shield" in German. The family's ascent to international prominence began in 1744, with the birth of Mayer Amschel Rothschild in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. He was the son of Amschel Moses Rothschild, (born circa 1710), a money changer who had traded with the Prince of Hesse. Born in the "Judengasse", the ghetto of Frankfurt, Mayer developed a finance house and spread his empire by installing each of his five sons in the five main European financial centres to conduct business. The Rothschild coat of arms contains a clenched fist with five arrows symbolising the five dynasties established by the five sons of Mayer Rothschild, in a reference to Psalm 127: "Like arrows in the hands of a warrior, so are the children of one's youth." The family motto appears below the shield: Concordia, Integritas, Industria (Unity, Integrity, Industry).

Paul Johnson writes "[T]he Rothschilds are elusive. There is no book about them that is both revealing and accurate. Libraries of nonsense have been written about them... A woman who planned to write a book entitled Lies about the Rothschilds abandoned it, saying: â€˜It was relatively easy to spot the lies, but it proved impossible to find out the truth.â€™" He writes that, unlike the court Jews of earlier centuries, who had financed and managed European noble houses, but often lost their wealth through violence or expropriation, the new kind of international bank created by the Rothschilds was impervious to local attacks. Their assets were held in financial instruments, circulating through the world as stocks, bonds and debts. Changes made by the Rothschilds allowed them to insulate their property from local violence: "Henceforth their real wealth was beyond the reach of the mob, almost beyond the reach of greedy monarchs." Johnson argued that their fortune was generated to the greatest extent by Nathan Mayer Rothschild in London; however, more recent research by Niall Ferguson indicates that greater and equal profits also were realised by the other Rothschild dynasties, including James Mayer de Rothschild in Paris, Carl Mayer von Rothschild in Naples and Amschel Mayer Rothschild in Frankfurt.

Another essential part of Mayer Rothschild's strategy for future success was to keep control of their banks in family hands, allowing them to maintain full secrecy about the size of their fortunes. In about 1906, the Jewish Encyclopedia noted: "The practice initiated by the Rothschilds of having several brothers of a firm establish branches in the different financial centres was followed by other Jewish financiers, like the Bischoffsheims, Pereires, Seligmans, Lazards and others, and these financiers by their integrity and financial skill obtained credit not alone with their Jewish confrÃ¨res, but with the banking fraternity in general. By this means Jewish financiers obtained an increasing share of international finance during the middle and last quarter of the 19th century. The head of the whole group was the Rothschild family...". It also states: "Of more recent years, non-Jewish financiers have learned the same cosmopolitan method, and, on the whole, the control is now rather less than more in Jewish hands than formerly."

Mayer Rothschild successfully kept the fortune in the family with carefully arranged marriages, often between first or second cousins (similar to royal intermarriage). By the late 19th century, however, almost all Rothschilds had started to marry outside the family, usually into the aristocracy or other financial dynasties. His sons were:

Amschel Mayer Rothschild (1773â€"1855): Frankfurt, died childless, passed to sons of Salomon and Calmann
Salomon Mayer Rothschild (1774â€"1855): Vienna
Nathan Mayer Rothschild (1777â€"1836): London
Calmann Mayer Rothschild (1788â€"1855): Naples
Jakob Mayer Rothschild (1792â€"1868): Paris

The German family name "Rothschild" is pronounced approximately RAWT-shilt in German, not ROTH(S)-chyld as it is in English. The surname "Rothschild" is rare in Germany. The German surname "Rothschild" is not related to the Protestant surname "Rothchilds" from the United Kingdom.

Families by country:

Rothschild banking family of Austria
Rothschild banking family of England
Rothschild banking family of Naples
Rothschild banking family of France

The Napoleonic Wars

The Rothschilds already possessed a significant fortune before the start of the Napoleonic Wars (1803â€"1815), and the family had gained preeminence in the bullion trade by this time. From London in 1813 to 1815, Nathan Mayer Rothschild was instrumental in almost single-handedly financing the British war effort, organising the shipment of bullion to the Duke of Wellington's armies across Europe, as well as arranging the payment of British financial subsidies to their continental allies. In 1815 alone, the Rothschilds provided Â£9.8 million (in 1815 currency, about Â£566 million, â‚¬717 million or US$869 million today, when using the retail price index, and Â£6.58 billion, â‚¬8,34 billion or US$10.1 billion when using average earnings) in subsidy loans to Britain's continental allies.

The brothers helped coordinate Rothschild activities across the continent, and the family developed a network of agents, shippers and couriers to transport gold across war-torn Europe. The family network was also to provide Nathan Rothschild time and again with political and financial information ahead of his peers, giving him an advantage in the markets and rendering the house of Rothschild still more invaluable to the British government.

In one instance, the family network enabled Nathan to receive in London the news of Wellington's victory at the Battle of Waterloo a full day ahead of the government's official messengers. Rothschild's first concern on this occasion was not to the potential financial advantage on the market which the knowledge would have given him; he and his courier immediately took the news to the government. It was then repeated in later popular accounts, such as that of Morton. The basis for the Rothschild's most famously profitable move was made after the news of British victory had been made public. Nathan Rothschild calculated that the future reduction in government borrowing brought about by the peace would create a bounce in British government bonds after a two-year stabilisation, which would finalise the post-war restructuring of the domestic economy. In what has been described as one of the most audacious moves in financial history, Nathan immediately bought up the government bond market, for what at the time seemed an excessively high price, before waiting two years, then selling the bonds on the crest of a short bounce in the market in 1817 for a 40% profit. Given the sheer power of leverage the Rothschild family had at their disposal, this profit was an enormous sum.

Nathan Mayer Rothschild initially started his business in Manchester in 1806, and gradually moved it to London, where in 1809 he acquired the location at 2 New Court in St. Swithin's Lane, City of London, where it operates today; he established N M Rothschild & Sons in 1811. In 1818, he arranged a Â£5 million (equal to Â£320 million in 2014) loan to the Prussian government, and the issuing of bonds for government loans formed a mainstay of his bankâ€™s business. He gained a position of such power in the City of London that by 1825â€"6 he was able to supply enough coin to the Bank of England to enable it to avert a market liquidity crisis.

International high finance

In 1816, four of the brothers were each elevated to the hereditary nobility by Austrian Emperor Francis I; moreover, a fifth brother, Nathan, was elevated in 1818. All of them were granted the Austrian title of baron or Freiherr on 29 September 1822. As such, some members of the family used "de" or "von" Rothschild to acknowledge the grant of nobility. Barons (Knights) who received their title from the Holy Roman Emperor or, after Holy Roman Empire's 1806 dissolution under Franz/Francis II, from the Austrian and later Austro-Hungarian Emperor are known as "Barons of the [Holy Roman] Empire", Reichsfreiherren, although the title is sometimes shortened to Freiherr.

In 1847, Sir Anthony de Rothschild was made a hereditary baronet of the United Kingdom. In 1885, Nathan Mayer Rothschild II (1840â€"1915) of the London branch of the family, was granted the hereditary peerage title Baron Rothschild in the Peerage of the United Kingdom.

Rothschild family banking businesses pioneered international high finance during the industrialisation of Europe and were instrumental in supporting railway systems across the world and in complex government financing for projects such as the Suez Canal. During the 19th century, the family bought up a large proportion of the property in Mayfair, London.

The Rothschild family was directly involved in the Independence of Brazil from Portugal in the early 19th century. Upon an agreement, the Brazilian government should pay a compensation of two million pounds sterling to the Kingdom of Portugal to accept Brazil's independence. N M Rothschild & Sons was pre-eminent in raising this capital for the government of the newly formed Empire of Brazil on the London market. In 1825, Nathan Rothschild raised Â£2,000,000, and indeed was probably discreetly involved in the earlier tranche of this loan which raised Â£1,000,000 in 1824. Part of the price of Portuguese recognition of Brazilian independence, secured in 1825, was that Brazil should take over repayment of the principal and interest on a Â£1,500,000 loan made to the Portuguese government in 1823 by N M Rothschild & Sons. A correspondence from Samuel Phillips & Co. in 1824 suggests the close involvement of the Rothschilds in the occasion.

Major 19th century businesses founded with Rothschild family capital include:

Alliance Assurance (1824) (now Royal & SunAlliance);
Chemin de Fer du Nord (1845)
The Rio Tinto mining company (1873) (from the 1880s onwards, the Rothschilds had full control of Rio Tinto)
Eramet (1880)
Imerys (1880)
De Beers (1888)

The family funded Cecil Rhodes in the creation of the African colony of Rhodesia. From the late 1880s onwards, the family took over control of the Rio Tinto mining company.

The Japanese government approached the London and Paris families for funding during the Russo-Japanese War. The London consortium's issue of Japanese war bonds would total Â£11.5Â million (at 1907 currency rates; Â£1.03Â billion in 2012 currency terms).

The name of Rothschild became synonymous with extravagance and great wealth, and the family was renowned for its art collecting, for its palaces, as well as for its philanthropy. By the end of the century, the family owned, or had built, at the lowest estimates, over 41 palaces, of a scale and luxury perhaps unparalleled even by the richest royal families. The soon to be British Prime Minister Lloyd George claimed, in 1909, that Lord Nathan Rothschild was the most powerful man in Britain.

In 1901, with no male heir, the Frankfurt House closed its doors after more than a century in business. It was not until 1989 that the family returned, when N. M. Rothschild & Sons, the British investment arm, plus Bank Rothschild AG, the Swiss branch, set up a representative banking office in Frankfurt.

Niles' Weekly Register, Volume 49 had the following to say about the Rothschilds influence on international high finance in 1836;

"The Rothschilds are the wonders of modern banking ... we see the descendants of Judah, after a persecution of two thousand years, peering above kings, rising higher than emperors, and holding a whole continent in the hollow of their hands. The Rothschilds govern a Christian world. Not a cabinet moves without their advice. They stretch their hand, with equal ease, from Petersburgh to Vienna, from Vienna to Paris, from Paris to London, from London to Washington. Baron Rothschild, the head of the house, is the true king of Judah, the prince of the captivity, the Messiah so long looked for by this extraordinary people. He holds the keys of peace or war, blessing or cursing. ... They are the brokers and counselors of the kings of Europe and of the republican chiefs of America. What more can they desire?"

English branch

The Rothschild banking family of England was founded in 1798 by Nathan Mayer Rothschild (1777â€"1836) who first settled in Manchester but then moved to London. Nathan Mayer von Rothschild, the third son of Mayer Amschel Rothschild (1744-1812), first established a textile jobbing business in Manchester and from there went on to establish N M Rothschild & Sons bank in London.

During the early part of the 19th century, the Rothschild's London bank took a leading part in managing and financing the subsidies that the British government transferred to its allies during the Napoleonic Wars. Through the creation of a network of agents, couriers and shippers, the bank was able to provide funds to the armies of the Duke of Wellington in Portugal and Spain, therefore funding war. The providing of other innovative and complex financing for government projects formed a mainstay of the bank's business for the better part of the century. N. M. Rothschild & Sons financial strength in the City of London became such that by 1825-26, the bank was able to supply enough coin to the Bank of England to enable it to avert a liquidity crisis.

Nathan Mayer's eldest son, Lionel de Rothschild (1808-1879) succeeded him as head of the London branch. Under Lionel the bank financed the British government's 1875 purchase of Egypt's interest in the Suez Canal. The Rothschild bank also funded Cecil Rhodes in the development of the British South Africa Company and Leopold de Rothschild (1845-1917) administered Rhodes's estate after his death in 1902 and helped to set up the Rhodes Scholarship scheme at Oxford University. In 1873 de Rothschild FrÃ¨res in France and N. M. Rothschild & Sons of London joined with other investors to acquire the Spanish government's money-losing Rio Tinto copper mines. The new owners restructured the company and turned it into a profitable business. By 1905, the Rothschild interest in Rio Tinto amounted to more than 30 percent. In 1887, the French and English Rothschild banking houses loaned money to, and invested in, the De Beers diamond mines in South Africa, becoming its largest shareholders.

The London banking house continued under the management of Lionel Nathan de Rothschild (1882-1942) and his brother Anthony Gustav de Rothschild (1887-1961) and then to Sir Evelyn de Rothschild (b. 1931). In 2003, following Sir Evelyn's retirement as head of N M Rothschild & Sons of London, the English and French financial firms merged under the leadership of David RenÃ© de Rothschild.

French branches

There are two branches of the family connected to France.

The first was son James Mayer de Rothschild (1792â€"1868), known as "James", who established de Rothschild FrÃ¨res in Paris. Following the Napoleonic Wars, he played a major role in financing the construction of railways and the mining business that helped make France an industrial power. By 1980, the Paris business employed about 2,000 people and had an annual turnover of 26Â billion francs (â‚¬4,13 billion or $5 billion in the currency rates of 1980).

But then the Paris business suffered a near death blow in 1982 when the socialist government of FranÃ§ois Mitterrand nationalised and renamed it Compagnie EuropÃ©enne de Banque. Baron David de Rothschild, then 39, decided to stay and rebuild, creating a new entity Rothschild & Cie Banque with just three employees and â‚¬830.000 ($1 million) in capital. Today the Paris operation has 22 partners and accounts for a significant part of the global business.

Ensuing generations of the Paris Rothschild family remained involved in the family business, becoming a major force in international investment banking. The Rothschilds have since led the Thomson Financial League Tables in Investment Banking Merger and Acquisition deals in the UK, France and Italy.

James Mayer de Rothschild's other son, Edmond James de Rothschild (1845â€"1934) was very much engaged in philanthropy and the arts and was a leading proponent of Zionism. His grandson, Baron Edmond Adolphe de Rothschild, founded in 1953 the LCF Rothschild Group, a private bank. Since 1997, Baron Benjamin de Rothschild chairs the group. The group has â‚¬100bn of assets in 2008 and owns many wine properties in France (ChÃ¢teau Clarke, ChÃ¢teau des Laurets), in Australia or in South Africa. In 1961, the 35-year-old Edmond Adolphe de Rothschild purchased the company Club Med, after he had visited a resort and enjoyed his stay. His interest in Club Med was sold off by the 1990s. In 1973, he bought out the Bank of California, selling his interests in 1984 before it was sold to Mitsubishi Bank in 1985.

The second French branch was founded by Nathaniel de Rothschild (1812â€"1870). Born in London, he was the fourth child of the founder of the British branch of the family, Nathan Mayer Rothschild (1777â€"1836). In 1850 Nathaniel Rothschild moved to Paris, ostensibly to work with his uncle James Mayer Rothschild. However, in 1853 Nathaniel acquired ChÃ¢teau Brane Mouton, a vineyard in Pauillac in the Gironde dÃ©partement. Nathaniel Rothschild renamed the estate ChÃ¢teau Mouton Rothschild, and it would become one of the best known labels in the world. In 1868, Nathaniel's uncle, James Mayer de Rothschild, acquired the neighbouring Chateau Lafite vineyard.

Austrian branch

In Vienna, Salomon Mayer Rothschild established a bank in the 1820s and the Austrian family had vast wealth and position. The crash of 1929 brought problems, and Baron Louis von Rothschild attempted to shore up the Creditanstalt, Austria's largest bank, to prevent its collapse. Nevertheless, during the Second World War they had to surrender their bank to the Nazis and flee the country. Their Rothschild palaces, a collection of vast palaces in Vienna built and owned by the family, were confiscated, plundered and destroyed by the Nazis. The palaces were famous for their sheer size and for their huge collections of paintings, armour, tapestries and statues (some of which were restored to the Rothschilds by the Austrian government in 1999). All family members escaped the Holocaust, some of them moving to the United States, and returning to Europe only after the war. In 1999, the government of Austria agreed to return to the Rothschild family some 250 art treasures looted by the Nazis and absorbed into state museums after the war.

Naples branch

The C M de Rothschild & Figli bank arranged substantial loans to the Papal States and to various Kings of Naples plus the Duchy of Parma and the Grand Duchy of Tuscany. However, in the 1830s, Naples followed Spain with a gradual shift away from conventional bond issues that began to affect the bank's growth and profitability. The Unification of Italy in 1861, with the ensuing decline of the Italian aristocracy who had been the Rothschild's primary clients, eventually brought about the closure of their Naples bank, due to declining forecasts for long-term business sustainability. However, in the early 19th century, the Rothschild family of Naples built up close relations with the Vatican Bank, and the association between the family and the Vatican continued into the 20th century. In 1832, when Pope Gregory XVI was seen meeting Carl von Rothschild, observers were shocked that Rothschild was not required to kiss the Pope's feet, as was then required for all other visitors to the Pope, including monarchs. The 1906 Jewish Encyclopedia described the Rothschilds as "the guardians of the papal treasure".

Jewish identity and positions on Zionism

Jewish solidarity in the family was not homogeneous. Many Rothschilds were supporters of Zionism, while other members of the family opposed the creation of the Jewish state. Lord Victor Rothschild was against granting asylum or help to Jewish refugees during the Holocaust. In 1917 Walter Rothschild, 2nd Baron Rothschild was the addressee of the Balfour Declaration to the Zionist Federation, which committed the British government to the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people.

After the death of James Jacob de Rothschild in 1868, his eldest son Alphonse Rothschild took over the management of the family bank and was the most active in support for Eretz Israel. The Rothschild family archives show that during the 1870s the family contributed nearly 500,000 francs per year on behalf of Eastern Jewry to the Alliance IsraÃ©lite Universelle. Baron Edmond James de Rothschild, youngest son of James Jacob de Rothschild, was a patron of the first settlement in Palestine at Rishon-LeZion, and bought from Ottoman landlords parts of the land which now makes up present-day Israel. In 1924, he established the Palestine Jewish Colonisation Association (PICA), which acquired more than 125,000 acres (50,586Â ha) of land and set up business ventures. In Tel Aviv, there is a road, Rothschild Boulevard, named after him as well as various localities throughout Israel which he assisted in founding including Metulla, Zikhron Ya'akov, Rishon Lezion and Rosh Pina. A park in Boulogne-Billancourt, Paris, the Parc Edmond de Rothschild (Edmond de Rothschild Park), is also named after its founder. The Rothschilds also played a significant part in the funding of Israel's governmental infrastructure. James A. de Rothschild financed the Knesset building as a gift to the State of Israel and the Supreme Court of Israel building was donated to Israel by Dorothy de Rothschild. Outside the President's Chamber is displayed the letter Mrs. Rothschild wrote to the then current Prime Minister Shimon Peres expressing her intention to donate a new building for the Supreme Court.

Interviewed by Haaretz in 2010, Baron Benjamin Rothschild, a Swiss-based member of the banking family, said that he supported the peace process: "I understand that it is a complicated business, mainly because of the fanatics and extremists â€" and I am talking about both sides. I think you have fanatics in Israel... In general I am not in contact with politicians. I spoke once with Netanyahu. I met once with an Israeli finance minister, but the less I mingle with politicians the better I feel." On the subject of religious identity, he stated that he held an open-minded attitude: "We do business with all kinds of countries, including Arab countries... My oldest daughter's boyfriend is a Saudi. He is a great guy and if she will want to marry him, she can."

Modern businesses, investments and philanthropy

Since the late-19th century, the family has taken a low-key public profile, donating many famous estates, as well as vast quantities of art, to charity, and generally eschewing conspicuous displays of wealth. Today, Rothschild businesses are on a smaller scale than they were throughout the 19th century, although they encompass a diverse range of fields, including: real estate, financial services, wine and charities.

The Rothschild Group

Since 2003, a group of Rothschild banks have been controlled by Rothschild Continuation Holdings, a Swiss-registered holding company (under the chairmanship of Baron David RenÃ© de Rothschild). Rothschild Continuation Holdings is in turn controlled by Concordia BV, a Dutch-registered master holding company. Concordia BV is managed by Paris OrlÃ©ans S.A., a French-registered holding company. Paris OrlÃ©ans S.A. is ultimately controlled by Rothschild Concordia SAS, a Rothschild's family holding company. Rothschild & Cie Banque controls Rothschild banking businesses in France and continental Europe, while Rothschilds Continuation Holdings AG controls a number of Rothschild banks elsewhere, including N M Rothschild & Sons in London. Twenty percent of Rothschild Continuation Holdings AG was sold in 2005 to Jardine Strategic, which is a subsidiary of Jardine, Matheson & Co. of Hong Kong. In November 2008, Rabobank Group, the leading investment and private bank in the Netherlands, acquired 7.5% of Rothschild Continuation Holdings AG, and Rabobank and Rothschild entered into a co-operation agreement in the fields of mergers and acquisitions (M&A) advisory and equity capital markets advisory in the food and agribusiness sectors. It was believed that the move was intended to help Rothschild Continuation Holdings AG gain access to a wider capital pool, enlarging its presence in East Asian markets.

Paris OrlÃ©ans S.A. is a financial holding company listed on Euronext Paris and controlled by the French and English branch of the Rothschild family. Paris OrlÃ©ans is the flagship of the Rothschild banking Group and controls the Rothschild Group's banking activities including N M Rothschild & Sons and Rothschild & Cie Banque. It has over 2,000 employees. Directors of the company include Eric de Rothschild, Robert de Rothschild and Count Philippe de Nicolay.

N M Rothschild & Sons, an English investment bank, does most of its business as an advisor for mergers and acquisitions. In 2004, the investment bank withdrew from the gold market, a commodity the Rothschild bankers had traded in for two centuries. In 2006, it ranked second in UK M&A with deals totalling $104.9Â billion. In 2006, the bank recorded a pre-tax annual profit of Â£83.2Â million with assets of Â£5.5Â billion.

Edmond de Rothschild Group

In 1953, one Swiss member of the family, Edmond Adolphe de Rothschild (1926â€"1997), founded the LCF Rothschild Group (now Edmond de Rothschild Group), based in Geneva, with â‚¬100Â billion in assets, which today extends to 15 countries across the world. Although this Group is primarily a financial entity, specialising in asset management and private banking, its activities also cover mixed farming, luxury hotels and yacht racing. Edmond de Rothschild Group's committee is currently being chaired by Benjamin de Rothschild, Baron Edmond's son.

In late 2010, Baron Benjamin Rothschild said that the family had been unaffected by the financial crisis of 2007â€"2010, due to their conservative business practices: "We came through it well, because our investment managers did not want to put money into crazy things." He added that the Rothschilds were still a small-scale, traditional family business and took greater care over their clients' investments than American companies, adding: "The client knows we will not speculate with his money".

Edmond de Rothschild group includes these companies.

Banque privÃ©e Edmond de Rothschild â€" Swiss private banking firm
Compagnie FinanciÃ¨re Edmond de Rothschild â€" French private bank
La Compagnie Benjamin de Rothschild
Cogifrance â€" Real estate
Compagnie Vinicole Baron Edmond de Rothschild â€" wine making firm

RIT Capital Partners

In 1980, Jacob Rothschild, 4th Baron Rothschild resigned from N M Rothschild & Sons and took independent control of Rothschild Investment Trust (now RIT Capital Partners, a British investment trust), which has reported assets of $3.4Â billion in 2008. It is listed on London Stock Exchange. Lord Rothschild is also one of the major investors behind BullionVault, a gold trading platform.

RIT Capital stores a significant proportion of its assets in the form of physical gold. Other assets include oil and energy-related investments.

Investment

In 1991, Jacob Rothschild, 4th Baron Rothschild founded J. Rothschild Assurance Group (now St. James's Place) with Sir Mark Weinberg. It is also listed on London Stock Exchange.

In 2001, the Rothschild mansion located at 18 Kensington Palace Gardens, London, was on sale for Â£85 million, at that time (2001) the most expensive residential property ever to go on sale in the world. It was built in marble, at 9,000 sq ft, with underground parking for 20 cars.

In December 2009, Jacob Rothschild, 4th Baron Rothschild invested $200Â million of his own money in a North Sea oil company.

In January 2010, Nathaniel Philip Rothschild bought a substantial share of the Glencore mining and oil company's market capitalisation. He is also buying a large share of the aluminium mining company United Company RUSAL.

During the 19th century, the Rothschilds controlled the Rio Tinto mining corporation, and to this day, Rothschild and Rio Tinto maintain a close business relationship.

In 2012, RIT Capital Partners announced it is to buy a 37 per cent stake in a Rockefeller family wealth advisory and asset management group. The deal, focusing on asset-management, marks the first time that these two well-known families have collaborated. Commenting on the deal, David Rockefeller, a current patriarch of Rockefeller family, said: "The connection between our two families remains very strong."

Wine

The Rothschild family has been in the winemaking industry for 150 years. In 1853 Nathaniel de Rothschild purchased ChÃ¢teau Brane-Mouton and renamed it ChÃ¢teau Mouton Rothschild. In 1868, James Mayer de Rothschild purchased the neighbouring ChÃ¢teau Lafite and renamed it ChÃ¢teau Lafite Rothschild.

Today, the Rothschild family owns many wine estates: their estates in France include ChÃ¢teau Clarke, ChÃ¢teau de Malengin, ChÃ¢teau Clerc-Milon, ChÃ¢teau d'Armailhac, ChÃ¢teau Duhart-Milon, ChÃ¢teau Lafite Rothschild, ChÃ¢teau de Laversine, ChÃ¢teau des Laurets, ChÃ¢teau L'Ã‰vangile, ChÃ¢teau Malmaison, ChÃ¢teau de Montvillargenne, ChÃ¢teau Mouton Rothschild, ChÃ¢teau de la Muette, ChÃ¢teau Rieussec and ChÃ¢teau Rothschild d'Armainvilliers. They also own wine estates across North America, South America, South Africa and Australia.

Especially, ChÃ¢teau Mouton Rothschild and ChÃ¢teau Lafite Rothschild are classified as Premier Cru ClassÃ©â€"i.e., First Growth, the status referring to a classification of wines from the Bordeaux region of France.

Art and charity

The family once had one of the largest private art collections in the world, and a significant proportion of the art in the world's public museums are Rothschild donations which were sometimes, in the family tradition of discretion, donated anonymously.

Hannah Mary Rothschild was appointed in December 2014 as Chair of the Board of the National Gallery of London.

Cultural references

In the words of the Daily Telegraph: "This multinational banking family is a byword for wealth, power â€" and discretion... The Rothschild name has become synonymous with money and power to a degree that perhaps no other family has ever matched."

Writing of the Rockefeller and Rothschild families, Harry Mount writes: "That is what makes these two dynasties so exceptional â€" not just their dizzying wealth, but the fact that they have held on to it for so long: and not just the loot, but also their family companies."

The story of the Rothschild family has been featured in a number of films. The 1934 Hollywood film titled The House of Rothschild, starring George Arliss and Loretta Young, recounted the life of Mayer Amschel Rothschild. Excerpts from this film were incorporated into the Nazi propaganda film Der ewige Jude (The Eternal Jew) without the permission of the copyright holder. Another Nazi film, Die Rothschilds (also called Aktien auf Waterloo), was directed by Erich Waschneck in 1940. A Broadway musical entitled The Rothschilds, covering the history of the family up to 1818, was nominated for a Tony Award in 1971. Nathaniel Mayer ("Natty") Rothschild, 1st Baron Rothschild appears as a minor character in the historical-mystery novel Stone's Fall, by Iain Pears. The Rothschild name is mentioned by Aldous Huxley in his novel Brave New World, among many names of historically affluent persons, scientific innovators and others. The character, named Morgana Rothschild, played a relatively minor role in the story. The name Rothschild used as a synonym for extreme wealth inspired the song "If I Were a Rich Man", which is based on a song from the Tevye the Dairyman stories, written in the Yiddish as Ven ikh bin Rotshild, meaning "If I were a Rothschild".

In France, the word "Rothschild" was throughout the 19th and 20th centuries a synonym for seemingly endless wealth, neo-Gothic styles, and epicurean glamour. The family also has lent its name to "le goÃ»t Rothschild," a suffocatingly glamorous style of living whose decorative elements include neo-Renaissance palaces, extravagant use of velvet and gilding, vast collections of armour and sculpture, a sense of Victorian horror vacui, and the highest masterworks of art. Le goÃ»t Rothschild has much influenced designers such as Robert Denning, Yves Saint Laurent, Vincent Fourcade and others.

"Yes, my dear fellow, it all amounts to this: in order to do something first you must be something. We think Dante great, and he had a civilisation of centuries behind him; the House of Rothschild is rich and it has required much more than one generation to attain such wealth. Such things all lie much deeper than one thinks."

Conspiracy theories

Over more than two centuries, the Rothschild family has frequently been the subject of conspiracy theories. These theories take differing forms, such as claiming that the family controls the world's wealth and financial institutions or encouraged or discouraged wars between governments. Discussing this and similar views, the historian Niall Ferguson wrote,

As we have seen, however, wars tended to hit the price of existing bonds by increasing the risk that a debtor state would fail to meet its interest payments in the event of defeat and losses of territory. By the middle of the 19th century, the Rothschilds had evolved from traders into fund managers, carefully tending to their own vast portfolio of government bonds. Now having made their money, they stood to lose more than they gained from conflict. The Rothschilds had decided the outcome of the Napoleonic Wars by putting their financial weight behind Britain. Now they would sit on the sidelines.

Many conspiracy theories about the Rothschild family have been identified as a result of anti-Semitic prejudice reaching back several hundred years, including the era of the Napoleonic wars, and not as a result of valid evidence.

Prominent descendants of Mayer Amschel Rothschild

Prominent lineal descendants of Mayer Amschel Rothschild include among many others:

Major Alexander Karet (1905â€"1976)
Princess AgnÃ¨s de La Tour d'Auvergne-Lauraguais (born 1972)
Adeleheid von Rothschild (1853â€"1935) x 1877Â : Edmond de Rothschild (1845â€"1934) (see the Paris branch)
Prince Alexandre Louis Philippe Marie Berthier (1883â€"1918), died fighting in the First World War
Albert Salomon von Rothschild (1844â€"1911), former majority shareholder of Creditanstalt
Alfred Charles de Rothschild (20 July 1842 â€" 31 January 1918)
Alice Charlotte von Rothschild (1847â€"1922) close friend of Queen Victoria
Aline Caroline de Rothschild (1865â€"1909), French socialite
Alice Rothschild (born 1985), wife of Zac Goldsmith, after his divorce of Sheherazade Ventura-Bentley
Alienor Rothschild (born 1997)
Lady Aline Caroline Cholmondeley (born 1916)
Baroness Afdera Franchetti (born c. 1931), a former wife of Henry Fonda, from the noble Italian Jewish Franchetti family
Baroness Alix Hermine Jeannette Schey de Koromla (1911â€"1982)
Alphonse James de Rothschild (1827â€"1905)
Amschel Mayor James Rothschild (1955â€"1996, Paris), patron of motor racing
Anthony Gustav de Rothschild (1887â€"1961), horse-breeder
Anthony James de Rothschild (born 1977)
Anselm von Rothschild (1803â€"1874), Austrian banker
Anselm Alexander Carl de Rothschild (1835â€"1854)
Sir Anthony de Rothschild, 1st Baronet (1810â€"1876)
Alain James de Rothschild (1910â€"1982)
Lady Barbara Marie-Louise Constance Berry (born 1935)
Miriam Caroline Alexandrine de Rothschild
Lord Charles Robert Archibald Grant
Ariane de Rothschild
Ariella de Rothschild
Arthur de Rothschild (1851â€"1903)
Benjamin de Rothschild (born 1963, Paris)
Carl Mayer von Rothschild (1788â€"1855)
Charlotte de Rothschild
Charlotte Henriette de Rothschild (born 1955), British opera singer
Charlotte von Rothschild(1818â€"84)
Count Charles-Emmanuel Lannes de Montebello (born 1942)
Charles Rothschild (1877â€"1923), banker and entomologist
Daniel de Rothschild (born 1994)
David de Rothschild (born 1997)
Constance Flower, 1st Baroness of Battersea (1843â€"1931)
David Cholmondeley, 7th Marquess of Cholmondeley (born 1960), Lord Great Chamberlain of England
David Mayer de Rothschild (born 1978), billionaire British adventurer and environmentalist
Edmond Adolphe de Rothschild
Edouard Etienne de Rothschild (born 1957)
Ã‰douard Alphonse James de Rothschild (1868â€"1949) financier and polo player
Prince Edouard de La Tour d'Auvergne-Lauraguais (born 1949)
Edmond James de Rothschild (1845â€"1934)
Edmund Leopold de Rothschild (1916â€"2009)
Elie de Rothschild (1917â€"2007)
Princess Elisabeth de Broglie (born 1920)
Elisabeth Clarice de Rothschild (born 1952)
Emeric de Rothschild (born 1995)
Emma Rothschild (born 1948)
Eric de Rothschild (born 1962), banker
Esther de Rothschild (born 1979)
Evelina de Rothschild(1839â€"66)
Evelyn Achille de Rothschild (1886â€"1917), died fighting for the British Army in the First World War
Sir Evelyn de Rothschild (born 1931), banker
Francesca Diane de Rothschild (1919â€"1998), philanthropist
Count Gabriel Antoine Armand (1908â€"1943), a soldier of the French Resistance.
Gustave Samuel de Rothschild (1829â€"1911)
Guy de Rothschild (1909â€"2007)
Ferdinand de Rothschild (born 2002)
Ferdinand James von Rothschild (1839â€"1898)
Hannah Mary Rothschild (born 1962), documentary filmmaker
Heidi Magdalena de Rothschild (1933), socialite
Helene Cecile Muhlstein de Rothschild (1936â€"2007) x 1962Â : FranÃ§ois Nourissier (1927â€"2011), prÃ©sident de l'AcadÃ©mie Goncourt
Henry Herbert, 7th Earl of Carnarvon (1924â€"2001)
Henri James de Rothschild (1872â€"1946), playwright, grandson of Nathaniel de Rothschild
Henry Herbert, 6th Earl of Carnarvon (1898â€"1987)
Henriette Rothschild (1791â€"1866) married Sir Moses Montefiore (1784â€"1885)
Count Henri de Gramont (1909â€"1994)
Hugh Cholmondeley, 6th Marquess of Cholmondeley (1919â€"90), Lord Great Chamberlain of England
Jacob Rothschild, 4th Baron Rothschild (born 1936), investment banker
Jacqueline de Rothschild (1911â€"2012) x (1) 1930; Robert Calmann-LÃ©vy (1899â€"1982) puis x (2) 1937; Gregor Piatigorsky (1903â€"1976)
James Armand de Rothschild (1878â€"1957)
James Mayer Rothschild (1792â€"1868)
Joachim Von Rothschild (1929â€"1998)
Julius de Rothschild (born 1981)
Lady Lavinia Anne Alix de Rothschild, of the Rothschild and Borghese family
Neil Primrose, 7th Earl of Rosebery (born 1929)
Neil James Archibald Primrose (1882â€"1917), MP, killed fighting in the First World War
Nelly Rachel de Rothschild (born 1947)
Baroness Nica de Koenigswarter (nÃ©e Baroness Pannonica Rothschild) (1913â€"1988), patron of bebop and jazz writer - often called the "Jazz Baroness"
Lamasnipes de Rothschild (1844â€"1915)
Leopold de Rothschild (1845â€"1917)
Leopold David de Rothschild (1927â€"2012)
Leonora de Rothschild (1837â€"1911)
Lionel Nathan Rothschild (1808â€"1879)
Louis Nathaniel de Rothschild (1882â€"1955)
Louis de Rothschild (born 2005)
Countess Magdalene-Sophie von Attems (born 1927)
Maria de Rothschild (1894â€"1937)
Maurice de Rothschild (1881â€"1957)
Mayer Amschel de Rothschild (1818â€"1874)
Marguerite Corisande Alexandrine Marie de Gramont (1920â€"1998), later Baroness de Gunzbourg, daughter of the Count de Gramont, Officier of LÃ©gion d'honneur and Croix de guerre
Maria Beatrice de Rothschild, granddaughter of the Princess de Marsiconovo
Miriam Louisa Rothschild (1908â€"2005), famous entomologist and zoologist
Lionel Walter Rothschild, 2nd Baron Rothschild of the United Kingdom (1868â€"1937)
Nathaniel de Rothschild (1812â€"1870)
Nathan Mayer Rothschild (1777â€"1836)
Nathan Mayer Rothschild, 1st Baron Rothschild of the United Kingdom (1840â€"1915)
Nathaniel Charles Jacob Rothschild, 4th Baron Rothschild of the United Kingdom (born 1936)
Nathaniel Robert de Rothschild (1946), French financier
Nathaniel Mayer Victor Rothschild, 3rd Baron Rothschild of the United Kingdom (1910â€"1990)
Nathaniel Philip Rothschild (born 1971), a co-chairman of Atticus Capital, a Â£20Â billion hedge fund
Nathaniel Anselm von Rothschild (1836â€"1905), Austrian socialite
Sir Philip Sassoon, 3rd Baronet (1888â€"1939), British First Commissioner of Works and Under-Secretary of State for Air
Count Philippe de Nicolay (born 1955), great-grandson of Salomon James de Rothschild, he is a director of the Rothschild group.
Robert de Rothschild (1880â€"1946) x 1907Â : Gabrielle Beer (1886â€"1945)
Philippe de Rothschild (1902â€"1988), vintner, son of Henri James de Rothschild
Philippine de Rothschild (1935â€"2014), vintner, daughter of Philippe
Jacqueline Rebecca Louise de Rothschild (1911â€"2012), chess and tennis champion
Harry Primrose, 6th Earl of Rosebery (1882â€"1974) Earl of Roseberry
Raphael de Rothschild (1976â€"2000)
Salomon James de Rothschild (1835â€"1864)
Lady Serena Dunn Rothschild (born 1935)
Countess Sophie von LÃ¶wenstein-Scharffeneck (1896â€"1978)
Lady Sybil Grant (1879â€"1955), British writer
Sybil Cholmondeley, Marchioness of Cholmondeley (1894â€"1989)
Victoria Katherine Rothschild (born 1953)
Walter Rothschild, 2nd Baron Rothschild, zoologist
Wilhelm Carl von Rothschild
Philippe Michael von Krause
Robert Baron Rothschild (born 1983)
Hannah Rothschild, writer and documentary film-maker (born 1962)

Prominent marriages into the family include, among many others:

Maurice Ephrussi (1849â€"1916), of the Ephrussi banking dynasty
Ben Goldsmith (born 1980), son of financier James Goldsmith, married Kate Emma Rothschild (born 1982)
Anita Patience Guinness (1957), of the Guinness family, married Amschel Mayor James Rothschild
Abraham Oppenheim (1804â€"1878), of the Oppenheim Family, married Charlotte Beyfus (1811â€"1887)
Aline Caroline de Rothschild (1865â€"1909) married Sir Edward Sassoon, 2nd Baronet, of Kensington Gore (1856â€"1912), of the Sassoon family
Cora Guggenheim (1873â€"1956), of the Guggenheim family, married Louis F. Rothschild (1869â€"1957)
Carola Warburg Rothschild (1894â€"1987), philanthropist, born into the Warburg family
Sara Louise de Rothschild (born 1834), married the Baron Raimondo Franchetti (born 1829)
Baron EugÃ¨ne de Rothschild (1884â€"1976) married Countess Cathleen Wolff de Schonborn-Bucheim (1885 - c. 1946)
Bertha Clara de Rothschild (1862) married Prince Alexandre de Wagram
Bertha Juliet de Rothschild (1870) married Baron Emmanuel Leonino
Lili Jeanette von Goldschimdt-Rothschild (1883â€"1929), married Baron Philippe Schey de Koromla
Elisabeth Pelletier de Chambure (1902â€"1945), the only member of the Rothschild family to die in the Holocaust.
Antoine AgÃ©nor Armand (1879â€"1962), of the Naples Rothschild lines, married Countess Ã‰laine Greffulhe, daughter of Princess Ã‰lisabeth de Caraman-Chimay
Hannah Mayer Rothschild (1815â€"1864) married Hon. Henry Fitzroy (1807â€"1859), of the family of the Dukes of Grafton
Edouard Alphonse James de Rothschild (1868â€"1949) married in 1905 the Baroness Alice Germaine de Halphen (1884â€"1979)
Count FranÃ§ois de Nicolay (1919â€"1963), of the House of Nicolay, married Marie-HÃ©lÃ¨ne Naila Stephanie Josina van Zuylen van Nyevelt
Dorothy de Rothschild (1895â€"1988), on her death she left the largest probated estate in Britain
George Herbert, 5th Earl of Carnarvon married Almina Victoria Maria Alexandra Wombwell, the illegitimate daughter of Alfred de Rothschild
Pauline de Rothschild (1908â€"1976), fashion designer and translator of Elizabethan poetry
In 1923, James Nathaniel Charles LÃ©opold Rothschild, son of Henri James Nathaniel Charles Rothschild and Mathilde Sophie Henriette de Weisweiller, married Claude du Pont of the Du Pont family.
Lady Irma Pauahi Wodehouse (1897), of the Wodehouse family
Prince Louis Philippe Berthier (1836â€"1911)
Amartya Sen (born 1933), Noble Laureate, Indian economist and philosopher, married Emma Georgina Rothschild of the Rothschild banking family of England.
Jeanne de Rothschild (1908â€"2003), actress
Nadine de Rothschild (1932â€"), French actress and author
Princess Sophie de Ligne (born 1957), of the House of Ligne, married Philippe de Nicolay (born 1955), a director of the Rothschild group, and the great-grandson of Salomon James de Rothschild
Liliane de Rothschild (1916â€"2003), art collector
David Rene de Rothschild married Princess Olimpia Anna Aldobrandini, of the House of Borghese and the House of Bonaparte.
Baron Robert Philippe de Rothschild married Nelly Beer, a great-grand-niece of Giacomo Meyerbeer
Richard Francis Roger Yarde-Buller, 4th Baron Churston of Churston Ferrers and Lupton (1910â€"1991), married Olga Alice Muriel Rothschild
Serena Dunn Rothschild (born 1935), granddaughter of Sir James Hamet Dunn, 1st Baronet
Lynn Forester de Rothschild (born 1954), businesswoman
Edward Maurice Stonor (1885â€"1930), son of Francis Stonor, 4th Baron Camoys
Lady Pamela Wellesley Grant (born 1912), great-great-granddaughter of the Duke of Wellington, married Lieutenant Charles Robert Archibald Grant, great-great-grandson of Mayer Amschel de Rothschild
Baroness Rozsika Edle von Wertheimstein
Baron Etienne van Zuylen van Nyevelt of the House of Van Zuylen van Nyevelt â€" married Baroness HÃ©lÃ¨ne de Rothschild (1863â€"1947).
Baron Sigismund von Springer (1873â€"1927), married Baroness Valentine NoÃ©mi von Rothschild (1886â€"1969), after whom the asteroid 703 NoÃ«mi is named
In 1943 Baron Elie Robert de Rothschild (1917â€"2007), married Lady Liliane Elisabeth Victoire Fould-Springer, great-aunt of actress Helena Bonham Carter

Coat of arms

Notes

External links

History

Rothschild Archive
The article of "Rothschild" in Jewish Encyclopedia

Finance

RIT Capital Partners â€" English investment trust founded by English Rothschild family
The Xander Group â€" Global investment firm founded by Rothschild family and Getty family
The Rothschild Group â€" It includes activities of Rothschild & Cie Banque and N M Rothschild & Sons
- Paris OrlÃ©ans S.A. â€" The flagship holding company of The Rothschild Group
- Rothschild Wealthmanagement & Trust â€" Wealth management branch of The Rothschild Group
Edmond de Rothschild Group â€" Swiss private banking group founded by French Rothschild family
- Finance
  - Banque privÃ©e Edmond de Rothschild â€" Swiss private banking firm
  - Compagnie FinanciÃ¨re Edmond de Rothschild â€" French private bank
  - La Compagnie Benjamin de Rothschild
  - Cogifrance â€" Real estate
  - The Capital Holdings Funds â€" Flagship investment vehicle of the Edmond de Rothschild Group
- Non-finance
  - Dmaine du Mont D'arbois â€" Luxury hotel
  - Mont d'Arbois golf â€" Golf
  - Gitana Team â€" Yacht racing

Vineyards

Baron Philippe de Rothschild SA (ChÃ¢teau Mouton Rothschild)
- Mouton Cadet Special Site
Domaines Barons de Rothschild (ChÃ¢teau Lafite Rothschild)
Compagnie Vinicole Baron Edmond de Rothschild (ChÃ¢teau Clarke) â€" Edmond de Rothschild Group
Rupert & Rothschild Vignerons
Chateau de Malengin

Houses and gardens

Waddesdon Manor (England)
Ascott House (England)
Villa Rothschild Kempisnki (Germany)
Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild (France)
ChÃ¢teau de Montvillargenne (France)
ChÃ¢teau de FerriÃ¨res (France)
HÃ´tel Salomon de Rothschild (France)
Exbury Gardens (England)

Foundations

The Edmond de Rothschild Foundations
The Rothschild Foundation

Rothschild family

Thursday, May 7, 2015