Dinner With A Rothschild…

Source: Wikipedia

Dear Diary, 

“What’s the secret?” 

We had decided to put the question directly. Why not? How often do you have dinner with a Rothschild, much less dozens of them? 

Today, one of Bordeaux’s most notable winemakers goes to her grave. Philippine de Rothschild was already stone cold when we arrived in town on Saturday; she died last week at 80. Today, she will be buried. 

But we came not to bury a Rothschild, but to praise one. That is to say we came not for an unhappy occasion, but for a happy one: the marriage of one of Philippine’s cousins. 

“She was so loved and respected in the wine industry here in Bordeaux,” a relative reported, “that the other winegrowers, merchants, and even the field hands lined the road and took off their hats when they brought her body back from Paris.” 

Philippine told the French leftist newspaper Libération that, despite the family name and the family fortune, she had not always had an easy time of it. 

During World War II, being a Rothschild in France was hazardous. Philippine’s mother was sent to a concentration camp near Berlin, where she was murdered in 1945. 

Philippine used her mother’s maiden name, escaped the deportations and, after the war, she went onstage in Paris as Philippine Pascal. Then in 1988, her father died. And she came back to Bordeaux to run the famous Château Mouton Rothschild wine estate. 
 

The Rothschild Secret

At the dinner following the wedding we raised a glass in her honor; after all, she had given the wine for the occasion. 

Seated to the left of a charming ambassador and to the right of a lively, elegant lawyer (who had married into the Rothschild clan), we happily passed a few hours in light conversation. 

Between courses came the inevitable question: How had the Rothschilds been so successful for such a long time? 

“They married well,” was one reply. 

“First, they married each other. I guess the Jewish community was small at the time. And families were very tight. Cousins married each other. That way, they kept the brains and the money in the family. But even later, they were careful about whom they let into the group.” 

“They stuck with good industries,” was another hypothesis. “The British branch of the family stayed in finance. That was always a good business in London. And it got better as London became the center of international capital. 

“Whenever the Russians, or the Arabs, or the Austrians, or the French, for that matter, ran into trouble in their own countries they went to London. They’re still doing it. That’s why there are so many Russians and so many French people there now. But don’t get me started on the French…” 

We will not get started on the French either. But we will pause to briefly note that, as an economist, Paul Krugman might make a good dentist. Then he could expound his ideas to an open mouth without causing further damage.