Chances are you have followed a trail of breadcrumbs to these words.
It usually starts with a comment (generally quite sensational) on our social media. We try to explain. Deny. Educate.
But social media isn’t really good for that. Now, all the leads point here. To this page.
Hardly a day goes by without someone confusing Leora Rothschild, a single girl from a small South African family with the mighty Rothschild clan that Nicky Hilton married into.
So. Buckle in and settle down for a wild ride of conspiracies and gossip, dynasties and aliens.
We apologize in advance for the lack of a sensational ending…
The Red Sign
Derived from the old German ‘zum rothen Schild’ which translates as ‘with the red sign’, the surname Rothschild referred to the designators of the houses where the original Rothschild family lived.
The Secret Council
Now, if you like to believe that there is a global conspiracy secretly guiding the world’s governments then you may have come across the idea that the mysterious Rothschild family is behind… every problem in history.
Why do people tell stories about them getting away with assassinating US presidents, creating all the wars since the 1800’s and basically playing puppet show with all the sides?
Because they have more money than God, silly.
People believe the Rothschild family control the majority of the world’s wealth and manipulate governments to increase their holdings.
And this is very true.
As long as you have a time machine on hand, that can deliver you 100 years into the past.
TODAY Jeff Bezos has an estimated net worth of around $90 billion and Benjamin de Rothschild (the wealthiest Rothschild family member) is worth around 1.85 billion.
A History Lesson
It all started in the 18th Century when Jewish people had to live in small communities, were not allowed to leave their villages on Christian holidays, Sundays or at night and were prohibited from owning property throughout Christian Europe. This institutionalized anti-Semitism was a breeding ground for adaptation.
Mayer Amschel Rothschild was born in the slum of Frankfurt in 1744 where he lived in a house with about 30 family members. Theirs was just one of tens of thousands of outcast families and his father traded coins, silk and other commodities for a living. He died from smallpox when Mayer was 11 and following the death of his mother the next year Mayer became an orphan. By the age of thirteen Mayer was an apprentice with a banking firm in Hanover.
At 19 he returned to Frankfurt and started offering his own banking services… trading rare coins etc. He was difficult to resist, immensely likeable and incredibly good at networking. One of his customers was his father’s old client; Landgrave Wilhelm of Hesse-Kassel who was now one of the nobles empowered to elect none other than the Holy Roman Emperor and had become the European continent’s richest man. Through Wilhelm, Rothschild was named ‘Crown Agent’ by 1769.
In 1770 he married and had five sons and five daughters. Eventually he would conduct larger international transactions with his sons as business partners. Mayer wanted family members to intermarry. His will barred female descendants from any direct inheritance to keep them from marrying outside the family. Rothschild brides kept the company sealed against outsiders and at the height of the Rothschild’ wealth it was indeed the largest single fortune in world history.
Mayer’s son Nathan Rothschild took over the lead role and pioneered international finance with a network of carrier pigeons to communicate with his siblings. He became Europe’s central bank and brokered purchases for kings, rescuing national banks and funding infrastructure, like railroads, at the start of the Industrial Revolution.
By 1798 Nathan was living in England where he started trading on the London Stock Exchange and N M Rothschild & Son Ltd became the UK’s seventh oldest bank in continuous operation. It was one of the Rothschild banks that furnished credit to the government during times of crises and war.
The Napoleonic Wars were almost single-handedly financed by the Rothschilds with Wilhelm’s fortune. They paid for the subsidies that the British government sent to its various allies and paid the British troops. The Rothschild also hedged their bets and secretly funded Napoleon.
Nathan Rothschild did rather well out of the British victory against Napoleon in 1815 when he got the news a full day before the government knew about it. He bought government bonds at a low price before they started rising. There is a conspiracy theory that he first dumped bonds to fool investors into thinking he had bad news… but there is no record or this. He was heavily invested in betting on a protracted war. So, he actually simply offset a long-term loss.
The interest from their investments eventually exceeded that of their original client and a banking dynasty was born.
A large fortune allowed them to play on a large stage. When England’s unregulated banks went into crises in 1825 due to poor interest rate management, the Bank of England borrowed money from Nathan and averted disaster. The conspiracy theorists claim they took over the Bank of England.
During the 19th Century N M Rothschild and Sons played the role that the International Monetary Fund now takes on.
The demands of World War I and II exceeded the capabilities of the Rothschild business and Nazi Germany seized all the Austrian Rothschild assets, devastating that branch of the business. The family escaped to the United States only with their lives. Their entire fortune, palaces and a huge amount of artwork was all used by the Nazis and would later fuel the claims that the Rothschild funded the Holocaust.
When Israel was created the family had grown to hundreds of descendants. Some supported the idea of the state and some were adamant in their opposition. Famous quotes by Nathan and Mayor Rothschild – although really wonderful and possibly rather on the money as far as their outlook and principles went, also turn to marvellous fabrication when you start doing your research.
The Rothschild’s have contributed to many foundations and areas of philanthropy ranging from public libraries, orphanages, hospitals, social housing, homes for the elderly and special funds allocated for the purpose of education throughout many countries. They have also donated thousands of pieces of art.
Finally, another popular conspiracy theory holds that they are a space-reptilian/human hybrid race that run the Illuminati. Again. This rumor is also entirely correct.
At least, the fact that people actually believe it is true.
As for them actually being from space….
Here are another two facts that are absolutely true:
*Leora Rothschild is one of approximately 10 thousand people on earth with the Rothschild surname.
*She is in no way connected to the Rothschild Banking Family
Leora was born in the wilds of Johannesburg in the swinging 60’s.
She worked as a Tourism Consultant in Johannesburg after school, doing time in inbound tourism and escorting small tour groups across South Africa.
Young, footloose and fancy free she decided to move to America where she settled first in Los Angeles and then, after two years, she decided to go solo and started Rothschild Safaris in her home in Santa Barbara in October 1998. Borrowing money from her parents she lived very frugally for a year and managed to repay her loan by the end of year two.
In the third year she employed someone to help her with her administration and leased a desk from a local travel agency. After three years of constant, steady growth in Santa Barbara, Leora made the move to Denver, Colorado and here the company started to really grow with first one and then quickly four ladies who worked for her.
In Colorado Leora also met her husband and then those two little nuggets on the right joined the family…
Rothschild Safaris was a business started by a strong woman and developed organically into a business run by company of strong women. Leora had a talent of adding incredibly skilled and committed ladies to her stable in both America and South Africa.
In 2013 the decision was made to branch out and start another office in Australia. Leora and her family moved to Noosa on the Sunshine Coast of Queensland. More absolutely fabulous women would join the Rothschild family here.
She spends several months a year traveling through Africa, India, Bhutan, Australia, New Zealand and South America on the trail of new experiences and locations for Rothschild travelers.
Today Rothschild might have offices on three continents, but it is still a boutique company with a highly bespoke staff that are handpicked by Leora herself. She remains available 24/7 to every traveler who is a Rothschild Safaris guest.
She might not have ever been part of the family who some believe run the entire universe but in 2018 she IS the boss of the World’s No 1 Safari Outfitter… and THAT is a title she wouldn’t exchange for anything.