David Rene de Rothschild

Early life and education

David de Rothschild was born in New York City, New York, in the United States, as a result of his parents having to escape the Nazis during the German occupation of France in World War II. He is the son of Guy de Rothschild (1909–2007) and his first wife and distant cousin, the former Baroness Alix Hermine Jeannette Schey de Koromla (1911–1982). His maternal grandfather was the Hungarian Baron Philipp Schey von Koromla. While his mother remained in New York City throughout the war, his father went to England where he joined the Free French Forces. Following the liberation of France, the family returned to their home in Paris. His parents eventually divorced. David de Rothschild was educated at Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Paris in Paris from which he graduated in 1966.

He has one half-brother: Baron Edouard de Rothschild from his father's later marriage to Baroness Marie-Helene van Zuylen van Nyevelt; two half-sisters, Lili and Bettina Krahmer, from his mother's first marriage to Kurt Krahmer; and one step-brother, Philippe de Nicolay from his stepmother's first marriage to French Count Francois de Nicolay.

Career

He began his business career at Societe miniere et metallurgique de Penarroya, one of the family's international mining businesses headquartered in Paris. He then began training in de Rothschild Freres bank.

French nationalisation

French government reform of banking regulations ended the legal distinction between banques d'affaires and deposit banks and in 1967 de Rothschild Freres became Banque Rothschild, a limited-liability company. David de Rothschild's father was an aggressive businessman who strove to expand the bank and their investments in mining and oil exploration as chairman of Imetal S.A.. However, the family fortunes suffered a severe setback following the election to the French Presidency of the socialist government of Francois Mitterrand in 1981. The new parliament nationalized a number of large companies and banks including that of the Rothschild family. An angry and discouraged 72-year-old Guy de Rothschild left France for a time and settled in New York City where the family had existing but limited business activities.

Later career

In an interview, dated 18 October 2003, with George Trefgarne published in The Spectator, David de Rothschild indicated that it took until 1986, when the Socialists lost power, for the Rothschild family to get a new banking licence in France. In 1987—joined by his half-brother Edouard, step-brother Count Philippe de Nicolay, and cousin Eric de Rothschild—he created a successor company, Rothschild & Cie Banque. Capitalized at only $1 million and starting with just three employees, they soon built their tiny investment bank into a major competitor in France and continental Europe.

In 2003, following the retirement of Sir Evelyn Robert de Rothschild as head of N M Rothschild & Sons of London, the UK and French firms merged to become one umbrella entity called "Group Rothschild". Ownership was shared equally between the French and British branches of the family under the leadership of David de Rothschild. In 2007, the British branch sold their share to the French branch. The French branch now fully owns N M Rothschild & Sons.

As of 2008, David de Rothschild holds the following corporate positions:

Personal life

In 1974, David de Rothschild married the Italian Princess Olimpia Anna Aldobrandini (b. 1955) in Reux, Calvados. They have five children:

The Rothschilds make their home in Normandy at Chateau de Reux, some 165 kilometres (103 mi) from Paris as the bird flies, on the seigneury between the village of Reux and the small town of Pont-l'Eveque, where David de Rothschild served as town mayor for 18 years. The place is France's preeminent horse breeding area and is close to Haras de Meautry, the breeding farm run by his brother Edouard. He was named to the International Best Dressed List Hall of Fame in 1991.

David de Rothschild also owns a share of the Chateau Lafite-Rothschild vineyard but is not active in its day-to-day operations.

David de Rothschild replaced former French minister Simone Veil as president of the French Entente Cordiale Scholarship trust, a Franco-British scholarship programme.