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Rózsika Rothschild

Rózsika Rothschild (born Rózsika Edle von Wertheimstein; Nagyvárad, Austria-Hungary, 15 October 1870 – London, 30 June 1940) was a tennis player and the wife of the banker and entomologist Charles Rothschild.

Life

She was born as Rózsika Edle von Wertheimstein in Nagyvárad, Austria-Hungary (now Oradea, Romania). She grew up as one of seven children of an officer of the Austro-Hungarian army, Alfred Edler von Wertheimstein. The Wertheimstein family was one of the first Jewish families in Europe to be ennobled without having previously converted to Christianity.

The multi-lingual Rózsika was regarded as very interested in politics. Miklós Bánffy, Hungary’s foreign minister following World War I, later praised Wertheimstein’s intellect, influence and efforts to support Hungary as it struggled to preserve its territories, which he detailed in his memoir The Phoenix Land :

“Her help was invaluable as for many years she had held a unique position in London… as a result of her husband’s illness, she was running the affairs of the Rothschild Bank herself. Then, and later, we could always depend on her help in any matter concerning Hungary.”

Around the turn of the century she was a very well known tennis player and national Hungarian champion. However, tennis was then almost exclusively operated by the nobility.

She was married in Vienna on 6 February 1907 to Charles Rothschild, son of Nathan Mayer Rothschild, 1st Baron Rothschild from the English branch of the Rothschild family, whom she had met during a butterfly excursion in the Carpathians (other sources indicate that it was a tennis court in Karlsbad). The couple lived on his estate in Tring, Hertfordshire. After the early death of her husband in 1923, she raised her four children alone.