The Rothschild Family and Waddesdon

What is it like to be in the stands? Well, of course, I'm not the right person to ask because I was born a Rothschild, but I'm still a Rothschild, so I didn't want to be anyone else. I think you'll notice that the name has a kind to it. of drawing power and the name sometimes lets you know that it gets a second take and when I was younger I found it very unpleasant because I didn't feel that he lived up to this extraordinary reputation. I didn't live up to the magnificence. I didn't feel like I could do anything, so I think it took me getting older and establishing my own career and then seeing it.

It is actually a great honor to be part of this extraordinary tradition. The story actually begins in Frankfurt in the Jewish ghetto in the city and the name Rothschild comes from the name of the house of their ancestors, which was the house of the red shield, so the dynasty was actually established by Mayer Amschel Rothschild, who was born in 1743 or 1744 and established his home. in Frankfurt and married a member of another Jewish

family

called Kukla Schnapper and between them they had 19 children of which 10 survived five girls and five boys so the Gaza Union was in Frankfurt and was built to house originally I think it was something as well as 60 Jewish families and in a matter of decades there were several hundred families, there were thousands of people living on a street that was a few meters wide and I think about a hundred meters long, the houses were so densely packed that there was barely any light .

I went in there and now my

family

, the Rothschilds, lived in a house that was 14 feet wide, so you can imagine it was very narrow in Graham and you can also imagine what the impetus was to get out of there. It is very difficult to imagine the scope. of the restrictions that they had to spend every night in the ghetto, they had to like clothes that identified them as Jews and the park sat outside, the managers said that there are no pigs, there are no Jews, that there was an incredibly restrictive society and now, to astonishment, Marechal Rostov could do what he did.

The Jews were allowed to trade in coins and coins were a big thing at that time because there were so many small states in Germany and elsewhere that were collected and some harem for Rostov returned to the friend of the Prince of Hesse and was successful. first selling her thorns and then he was formally appointed her and the prince's life point advisor, so that was the big breakthrough, the business really expanded when Mayer Amschel brought his five children into the family business and did so while keeping one I'm sure they were in Frankfort and the other four brothers established branches of what became the Rothschild Bank in other European capitals, so Nathan went to London, James went to Paris, Solomon went to Vienna and Karl went to Naples. . close family, they actually escaped the deserts of those five capitals of Europe and it was the first time that a family worked within a European community and they had family rules about how they conducted their businesses, they wanted to share everything in the The first days and They worked together with success in Berlin.

The really famous example of a Rothschild success is the way they managed to provide cash to Wellington so that he could finance his armies in the run up to Waterloo and that really established them as a He was kind of an international player in financial terms and Much of that success was due to his ability to communicate. They had an incredibly sophisticated secret communication network, which meant they could transmit news from one brother to another. in fact, news of Wellington's victory at Waterloo arrived with Nathan 24 hours before official news reached the British government in the mid-19th century, the Rosts found it difficult to become established members of British society, they were involved in finance and politics and Nathan His son Lionel in 1847 was elected MP for the City of London, but was not as such and was allowed to take his seat in parliament for another eleven years until 1858, when an act was passed that eliminated the prohibition on Jews taking the oath. loyalty - um natty was also very involved in politics, he gave advice to the government on financial matters and in 1885 he was appointed the first Lord Rothschild, the first Baron Rothschild of Tring and in doing so, became the first Jewish peer to hold a seat in the House of Lords followed in his father's footsteps.

I suppose within the political realm there is an assumption that most Rothschilds are bankers because of course we know that's what we were known for and of course that's how our fortune was made, but over the centuries we've I have diversified and that is why my grandfather Victor and my great aunt Miriam were very, very distinguished scientists. My great aunt Nica was an excellent patron of jazz. My aunt's Emma and Victoria are academics. My niece Lily rides horses around England. My sister Beth is. a gardener, you know we're a very diverse group, banking is still if you like what we're best known for, but it's not necessarily what we're most proud of.

I think there is a very strong tradition of financial fear among the royal family and it has now been shown that they do not support local institutions but, in particular, good Jewish causes and that has been a very strong agreement among the rest of us. I think even to this day the family has had many different interests in all kinds. from different fields, I think the most famous are probably wine and of course the ownership of the two great Bordeaux vineyards, Chateau Mouton hot Shield and Chateau lafite-

rothschild

, which are still family property, which required in the century XIX and then there are many races.

The family members were very fond of grass and competed with horses with great success. There are many classical winners and of course the art collections, which are possibly the most famous aspect of all, and Walleston is a very good example of this with extraordinary collections of 18th century furniture and paintings very much in what is called the Rothschild style, the original founding father, nm Rothschild, so Rothschild women could only be employed as archivists or accountants, which limited the role of women in the family, so they had to find other ways and One of the Ways they managed was to be custodians of the collection and really custodians of the family honor, if you will, if we take this house in a certain way and think about its history, Ferdinand built it and the collection was brought together from very different places. disparate parts of the family, but it was her sister Alice who really made sure the collection stayed together and Alice was extraordinary, she was the person who introduced very exacting standards, so the collection had to be put aside for the winter. you only touch something if you're wearing gloves and the Gardiners were terrified of her because she would go to the borders and tell you no, that's a bit that needs a cut or that's the wrong kind of rose or something and she actually added to Another great heroine here collects her in her own way, such as Dolly or Mrs.

James - Rothschild, who I knew as a child and they used to call Mrs. James comes and she came with a pug dog under her arm and walked around the house and there was no detail that she didn't miss and in reality it is those standards that those two women instilled in the house that are still carried out today. every day and I believe it is those standards that maintain the standard of excellence that we are so proud of you. There was a transition period to being a private Hodge and becoming part of the National Trust with a strong family in France, both in terms of works brought into the house and the property outside, when my net cousin, who left me responsibility for continue with his work, he made that transfer that changed, we are from the public and today we had 12,000 visitors. 450,000 we have also significantly added the collection here, we have created our positions that complement, such as shadow painting, we do exhibitions, a better idea for an academic and at the same time, any idea was repealed, there is a deep involvement here on the part of our family verse and my daughter Hannah, it is from me and other members.

I think that with privilege comes responsibility and if you are lucky enough that I am and have been to have been born into a family where there are so many opportunities and and you are surrounded by so many beautiful things that I think you know that the opportunity to share that is beyond you. itself and the opportunity to explain the stories and possible broader context is something I'm actually very excited about for you.