Élisabeth de Rothschild

Who was Élisabeth de Rothschild?

Élisabeth de Rothschild was a member by marriage of the wine-making branch of the Rothschild family.

Born in Paris as Elisabeth Pelletier de Chambure, into a wealthy Catholic aristocratic family whose roots were in the Burgundy region. Her ancestors included the famous Napoleonic General, Laurent Augustin Pelletier de Chambure. She was the daughter of Auguste Pelletier de Chambure, mayor of Escrignelles. She was called "Lili" as a child.

In 1934, immediately after her divorce from her first husband, Jonkheer Marc Edouard Marie de Becker-Rémy, a Belgian aristocrat, she married her lover, Baron Philippe de Rothschild, a member of the prominent Rothschild family and the owner of one of France's most famous vineyards, Château Mouton Rothschild in Pauillac in the Médoc. Rothschild also was a cousin by marriage of her previous husband.

Lili and Philippe de Rothschild had two children:

Philippine Mathilde Camille de Rothschild

Charles Henri de Rothschild

Philippe de Rothschild's late-in-life memoirs described his marriage to Lili as one of great passion but also enormous tempestuousness and despair.