| Robert de Rothschild | |
| Birth Name: | Robert Philippe Gustave de Rothschild |
| Birth Date: | 19 January 1880 |
| Birth Place: | Paris, France |
| Death Place: | Lausanne, Switzerland |
| Occupation: | Banker, philanthropist, polo player |
| Baron | |
| Parents: | Gustave de Rothschild Cécile Anspach |
| Children: | Diane de Rothschild (1907) Alain de Rothschild (1910) Cécile de Rothschild (1913) Élie de Rothschild (1917) |
| Relatives: | James Mayer de Rothschild (paternal grandfather) Guy de Rothschild (nephew) |
Baron Robert Philippe Gustave de Rothschild (19 January 1880 – 25 December 1946) was a French banker, philanthropist and polo player.
Robert de Rothschild was born on 19 January 1880 in Paris, France.[1] He was the youngest of six children of banker Baron Gustave de Rothschild, and the former Cécile Anspach. Among his elder siblings were Zoé Lucie Betty de Rothschild (wife of Belgian banker Léon Lambert) and Aline Caroline de Rothschild (who married Sir Edward Sassoon).[2]
He was a banker who supported Jewish causes in France, and later New York City. After the war, he supported efforts to revive Jewish life in France.
During World War II, he was on the Nazi blacklist.[3] Moreover, his French citizenship was nullified by the Vichy government because he was Jewish.[3] He escaped to England and emigrated to the United States, arriving in New York City in August 1940.[3] He stayed there for five years, throughout the war years.[3]
He was a four-goal polo player.[4] He was the founder of the Deauville International Polo Club in 1907.[5] He organized the Laversine Open Polo Cup on the grounds of his chateau Laversine in Saint-Maximin. He also organized tournaments in Apremont in 1920.[6] By 1995, the Château de Chantilly inApremont was home to the Polo Club du Domaine de Chantilly.[6]
He won the International Paris Tournament in 1907 and the Paris Open in 1920.[4]
On 6 March 1907, he married Gabrielle Nelly Régine Beer. Together, they resided at the Château de Laversine and had two sons, who were captured by the Nazis and held prisoner during the War,[3] and two daughters:[3]
Rothschild died of pneumonia on Christmas Day, 25 December 1946 in Lausanne, Switzerland at age 66.[3] [12]
Through his daughter Diane, he was the grandfather of three: artist Cécile, historian Anka, and pediatric endocrinologist Nathalie.[13]