In the ninety years of her existence, Nadine de Rothschild has seen many men pass through her life, but only one of them has had the chance to marry her, and not just anyone: Edmond de Rothschild who gave him the title of Baroness and offered a dizzying social status. ascent. Until the death of the French-Swiss banker, founder-president of the Edmond de Rothschild Group, in 1997.
It was in 1960 that whoever publishes her 15th book today, Dear Baroness of Rothschild (Éditions Gourcuff Gradenigo), crosses paths with her future husband one evening. The latter has just divorced after a year of marriage and is already ready to get back into the saddle. As remembered this Saturday Le Figaro in his interview with Nadine de Rothschild, who is currently promoting his latest work, Edmond de Rothschild immediately expresses his feelings, a boldness that pays off. Three weeks after their meeting they moved in together, three years later the marriage (in 1963) and the birth of their only son Benjamin in the same year. The last died in 2021.
Born Nadine Lhoptailier in 1932 in Saint-Quentin, the future Baroness de Rothschild grew up in Puteaux with a working-class mother and a father-in-law in the police force. Spotted by painter Jean-Gabriel Domergue after responding to an advertisement, Nadine de Rothschild was then introduced to filmmaker Marc Allégret. It was then that her acting career began with many important meetings: Henri Salvador, Gilbert Bécaud and Charles Aznavour. Among them also those with a certain Georges Brassens.
Brassens’ flower, that’s her
The one who is then called Nadine Tallier inspires the immense singer who writes for her A beautiful flower. And according to Nadine de Rothschild, Georges Brassens saw in her much more than a simple source of inspiration…”Georges used to say to me, ‘Would you like to have dinner with me? And I always said to him, “Yes, Georges, but tomorrow.” But tomorrow was never. He was very naive and at some point he must have realized I was kidding him.‘ she says today to the Figaro.
Courted, Nadine de Rothschild always is. After Edmond’s death, another rich and powerful man proposed to marry him: David Rockefeller who died in 2017.”Being a friend of the family, he thought we knew the same people, we had the same friends and that might very well make a very good marriage. He was charming, very well behaved, courteous. We had the same habits; we visited the same circles. But that didn’t happen‘ says the 90-year-old baroness to the Figaro who says that this marriage would have an advantage, namely that he would not have to change the initials of his luggage,” Rockefeller, Rothschild, it was the same“.