Alice Charlotte von Rothschild
Alice Charlotte von Rothschild (17 February 1847 – 3 May 1922), otherwise referred to as 'Miss Alice', was a socialite and member of the 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) and younger sister of the British politician, Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild. She was quite young when her family moved to Vienna, where her father took over the management of the family-owned S M von Rothschild bank.
Alice Charlotte von Rothschild
17 February 1847
3 May 1922 (aged 75)
German
Socialite
Member of the Rothschild banking family of Austria
Inheritance[edit]
In late 1898, following the death of her brother, Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild, Alice inherited Waddesdon Manor and his London House. 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 km) inland, north of the Mediterranean coast and here she created an enormous garden that employed more than one hundred gardeners. 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 km) from Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild, the seaside estate owned by another cousin, Béatrice Ephrussi de Rothschild.
Queen Victoria holidayed in Grasse and visited Villa Victoria. According to the book The Rothschild Gardens by Miriam Rothschild, at the turn of the century, Alice Rothschild spent the equivalent of nearly £500,000 annually on her gardens and grounds at Grasse. Imperious in nature, Alice was a strong-willed person who spoke her mind. According to one anecdote: "the Queen stepped on a lawn and across a flower-bed [at Waddesdon Manor], 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'."[3]
Death and legacy[edit]
Alice von Rothschild died on 3 May 1922 in Paris, at the age of 75. She bequeathed the Waddesdon estate to her nephew, James Armand de Rothschild.[5]
An exhibition about the role of von Rothschild in the history of Waddesdon Manor was held there in 2022.[1]