|
1 |
CHARLOTTE AND LIONEL: A ROTHSCHILD LOVE STORY
Weintraub, Stanley
2003 11015015 Weintraub, biographer of Queen Victoria and Benjamin Disraeli, knows the Victorian world well, and here he profiles one of its oddly (given their Jewishness and British anti-Semitism) quintessential couples. Lionel Rothschild, scion of the British branch of the famed banking family, married his beautiful German wife, Charlotte, in 1836, when she was 16 (he was a decade older). The bride was, following family custom, also Lionel's cousin and would mature into a sparkling saloniste and hostess whose dinner invitations, Weintraub notes, were preferred over those from Buckingham Palace. Weintraub, author of the bestselling Silent Night: The Story of the World War I Christmas Truce, intimately traces their relationship, which brought them "mixed blessings." Lionel fought to be able to take a seat in Parliament (as a Jew, he couldn't take the necessary oath "on the true faith of a Christian" until legislators amended the archaic oaths law, a process that dragged on for 11 years). Charlotte and Lionel were a fine match, she tending to charities, bearing children, hosting fabulous gatherings and nursing him through various health crises, he serving as banker to royalty in Britain and on the continent. Charlotte attracted passion not only from her husband: Benjamin Disraeli fictionalized her more than once; Endymion, Weintraub says, was an "extraordinary love letter" to her. While immortalizing her in his fiction, however, he apparently didn't act on his feelings, and there's no evidence to suggest she considered him anything other than a close family friend. Weintraub offers an enticing inside look at a storied family that played a central public role in Victorian England. From Booklist: Lionel Rothschild was the son of Nathan, who founded the London branch of the family's vast banking empire. Lionel and his first cousin, Charlotte, agreed to an arranged marriage and began an unlikely, but long, partnership characterized by devotion, genuine love, and joint efforts that interacted with many of the great events and great historical figures of Victorian Britain. In addition to his great influence and power through his financial interests, Lionel achieved political power and was the first Jew to sit in Parliament. He was instrumental in gaining financial backing for the British acquisition of a dominant interest in Suez Canal shares. He aided famine relief in Ireland and worked tirelessly to improve the lot of British Jews. With her charm, beauty, and intelligence, Charlotte was both a hostess to the glittering elite and a trusted advisor to her husband. Weintraub's narrative is engrossing and often fascinating, both as a love story and as a portrait of a couple who moved effectively within Victorian society without being fully accepted by it. Free Press 0-7432-2686-0 / 9780743226868
Hardcover As New Condition
Price:
31.35 USD
|
