The £600m feud between Evelyn de Rothschild's children and his widow trends now
The Rothschild family motto is unambiguous: ‘Concordia, Integritas, Industria.’ Harmony comes first in the making and keeping of one of the world’s greatest fortunes.
But that ‘harmony’ was stretched to breaking point at the funeral of financier Sir Evelyn de Rothschild, who is understood to have left control of his share of the dynasty’s millions not to his three children, but to his widow Lady de Rothschild.
Relations were said to be strained between Sir Evelyn’s third wife, American entrepreneur, philanthropist and political power player Lynn Forester, 68, and her husband’s offspring – Jessica, David and Anthony.
Her expected inheritance means a multi-million-pound wedge of Rothschild wealth is likely to pass out of the 200-year-old British branch of the family empire, which helped finance Wellington’s armies at Waterloo, the Suez Canal and the London Underground.
‘We’re talking about one of the biggest upheavals of this kind in history,’ a source close to the family told The Mail on Sunday last night.
‘We think he’s handed over the Rothschild fortune, his part of it. It’s all expected to be going to Lynn, and it’s not as if he couldn’t have been very generous to everyone.’
The late Sir Evelyn de Rothschild pictured with his third wife Lynn Forester, to whom he has left most of his fortune
Anthony de Rothschild (pictured in 2009 with wife Lady Annabel Goldsmith) is one of Sir Evelyn's children to miss out on much of the inheritance
The source believed Lynn would probably get ‘something in the region of £600 million’.
At the funeral two weeks ago, held at The Liberal Jewish Synagogue in London’s St John’s Wood, Lynn sat front and centre behind the coffin with her two sons from a previous marriage, while Sir Evelyn’s children sat at a pew to one side.
The financier’s 48-year-old daughter Jessica – a theatre producer married for more than a decade to Sacha Gervasi, an ex of Spice Girl Geri Halliwell – refused to join the family procession as her father’s coffin was carried out, in protest at having been left out of funeral arrangements along with her siblings.
The de facto head of the family, Jacob Rothschild, 4th Baron Rothschild, was not invited to give the address. Instead, Lady de Rothschild invited former US President Bill Clinton to speak.
A source said: ‘Jacob not being invited to speak tells you everything you need to know. It’s a terrible misstep. He knew Evelyn the best and his reminiscences would have been relevant and in keeping with family, and not married-into family.
‘I don’t think anyone was unhappy that Bill Clinton was there – he’s Bill Clinton – but Evelyn had only met him 25 years ago. He was a 91-year-old man, what about the other 60-odd years? The kids had absolutely no say at all. The children have had to stand by and it’s not been helpful.’
It seemed the tension was not lost on the former US President, who made an extraordinary public appeal for unity during his address to mourners who included his wife Hillary Clinton, the Duchess of York, Princess Beatrice, her husband Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi and Tony and Cherie Blair.
Sir Evelyn's daughter Jessica de Rothschild pictured at a cocktail party in 2019
Mr Clinton said: ‘I have been thinking a lot about Evelyn and the ambiguous privilege of bearing a famous name, inheriting physical resources and having to make decisions about what you will do with both the identity you have inherited, the resources, the advantages and the complications that go along with them.’
He pleaded: ‘For all of you who have come here with unresolved doubts, and lingering resentments, I ask that they be forgiven.’
But despite his pleas, there may be more turmoil to come. According to family members, there is one part of Sir Evelyn’s empire that will not be controlled by Lynn: his UK-registered Rothschild family charity Eranda.
Lady de Rothschild is on the board of trustees with two of her stepchildren, Jessica and Anthony.
The family are keen to ensure that the charity does not shift its philanthropic focus to American causes. ‘The family are gearing up for a fight,’ said a source close to the family.
Conspicuously absent from the congregation was King Charles, who Lady de Rothschild had hoped would attend.
One source told The Mail on Sunday that there were hopes Charles’s nephew Ben Elliot – who is also on the board of trustees for Eranda – might encourage the monarch along.
In the end the absent King sent an ‘elegant’ letter instead, praising Sir Evelyn, which Mr Clinton paraphrased in his address as ‘wow I liked this guy, he did a lot of good things’.
At least two family members also privately expressed bewilderment during the funeral at the absence of some de Rothschild relatives and friends who pre-dated Sir Evelyn’s marriage to Lynn.
Lady de Rothschild invited former US President Bill Clinton to speak at Sir Evelyn's funeral
Another source added: ‘A lot of family members were not included in the funeral.
‘Many people were not invited to participate, who should have participated. Not just Jessica, but other family members who would have represented them better.’
A source close to Jacob said: ‘Jacob sent a message of respect and friendship for his cousin to President Clinton who gave the address and he generously referred to it. Jacob was not asked to speak at the service. Only the President.’
