Alice Charlotte von Rothschild - Biography

Alice Charlotte von Rothschild (17 February 1847 – 3 May 1922) was a socialite and member of the prominent Rothschild banking family of Austria. Born in Frankfurt, she was the eighth and youngest child of Anselm von Rothschild (1803–1874) and Charlotte Rothschild (1807–1859). She was a small child when her family moved to Vienna where her father took over management of the family-owned S M von Rothschild bank.

Alice von Rothschild's mother was the daughter of Nathan Mayer Rothschild of London and as a result the family would have close connections to the English branch of the Rothschild family. Her brother Ferdinand, with whom she was very close, studied at Cambridge University and married an English cousin.

Her mother died when she was twelve and as a result of her busy father who traveled constantly, she spent a lonely childhood, living with various relations. When her brother Ferdinand began the construction in 1874 of Waddesdon Manor in Buckinghamshire England, Alice von Rothschild acquired a nearby property at Eythrope for herself. There, between 1876 and 1879, she had a park and garden created and a house built near the river called Eythrope Pavilion. Because she had suffered from rheumatic fever, she had been advised not to sleep near water as dampness would aggravate her health problem. As such, her house was built for daytime occupation only and at nights she returned to stay at Waddesdon Manor.

In late 1898, following the death of her brother, Alice inherited Waddesdon Manor. During World War I she had the formal gardens at Waddesdon and Eythrope given over to the growing of vegetables for the less fortunate. The Eythrope Pavilion was still maintained but now as even more of an occasional retreat. As her health declined she spent more of her time at her magnificent château, "Villa Victoria", in the balmier climate of the town of Grasse in the Alpes-Maritimes département in France. Her property was located about 12 miles (19 Kilometers) inland, north of the Mediterranean coast and here she created an enormous garden that employed more than one hundred gardeners. A spinster, she wanted to be near family and her château was close to Cannes where her cousin Laura Thérèse von Rothschild, widow of James-Edouard de Rothschild owned the Villa Rothschild, Cannes, and only 34 miles (55 Kilometers) from Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild, the seaside estate owned by another cousin, Béatrice Ephrussi de Rothschild.

Queen Victoria, a close friend, vacationed in Grasse and visited Villa Victoria. According to the book The Rothschild Gardens by Miriam Rothschild, at the turn of the century, Alice von Rothschild spent the equivalent of nearly half-a-million pounds (Sterling) annually on her gardens and grounds at Grasse. Imperious in nature, Alice was a strong-willed person who spoke her mind. According to a 2001 book by author Michael Nelson: "the Queen stepped on a lawn and across a flower-bed, inadvertently crushing several plants. The baroness could not contain herself and roughly told the sovereign in effect to 'Get out'. Thereafter the Queen always referred to her as 'The All-Powerful One'."

Like most other members of the Rothschild family, Alice von Rothschild was a collector of art. While she acquired paintings, sculptures and objets d'art, Alice von Rothschild also had a unique collection of smoking pipes, including French, Spanish and Italian examples from the 17th century. The collection was donated to the town of Grasse on her death in 1922.

The château in Grasse later became the hotel "Parc Palace", where the famous French actor Gérard Philipe was raised. Alice von Rothschild willed Waddesdon Manor to James Armand de Rothschild.

Avenue Rothschild in Grasse is named in her honor.

• Rothschilds at Waddesdon Manor by Dorothy de Rothschild. Viking Penguin (1979) ISBN 0-670-60854-8
• The Rothschild Gardens by Miriam Louisa Rothschild (1998) Harry N. Abrams, Inc., London ISBN 0-8109-3790-5
• Queen Victoria and the Discovery of the Riviera by Michael Nelson (2001) I.B. Tauris, London ISBN 1-86064-646-8
• See also the list of references at Rothschild banking family of Austria and Rothschild banking family of England