Lord Rothschild and the Royals

Some surprising connections with Charles, Diana, and Camilla

Rothschild family biographer Niall Ferguson has called the recent death of Jacob, the 4^th Baron Rothschild at age 87 “a melancholy turning point in the history of the Jewish people’s most illustrious family.” Ferguson described the late baron as “a bold visionary financier” who devoted “an equal amount of time and energy to philanthropy.”

        What is less known about Jacob Rothschild is how he wore both of those important hats in his associations with the royal family. He was a trusted financial adviser as well as a crucial supporter of King Charles III’s charitable enterprises when he was the Prince of Wales. And he was a strong ally of the King’s wife Camilla as well as the late Diana, Princess of Wales.

       In the 1980s, Lord Rothschild was more intrigued by Diana than Charles, according to journalist and prolific diarist Woodrow Wyatt. Rothschild regarded Prince Albert, the husband of Queen Victoria, as a “very remarkable administrator” and a “serious German, “Wyatt wrote. “We both agreed that the Prince of Wales is nowhere near the caliber of Prince Albert.” That judgment overlooked the fact that Albert was a great proponent of science and technology and would likely have been perplexed by his descendant’s often-expressed skepticism about Western industrial progress.

Spencer House in London, meticulously restored by Jacob Rothschild

In 1985 Jacob Rothschild bought a 125-year lease on Spencer House, the ancestral London home of the Spencer family, including Diana and her siblings. The last Spencer to live there was Diana’s grandfather, the seventh Earl Spencer, who moved out in 1926. In the following years the classical eighteenth-century mansion overlooking Green Park was used for offices. It was in such poor condition that Rothschild described it as a “wreck.” He built new offices and spent £25 million to impeccably restore the lavish State Rooms on the ground and first floors.

Rothschild engaged Diana in the project. “It did give me a reason to telephone Diana and say, ‘I’m thinking of painting the walls this color, would you like to come and look?’” he recalled. “I liked her very much.”  She was on hand with Rothschild in November 1990 to officially open the restored house: “the most exciting present” of her life, she said.

Lord Rothschild with Diana, Princess of Wales at the grand opening of Spencer House in November 1990