Queer Places:
23 Avenue de Marigny, 75008 Paris, France
Château de Laversine, 60740 Saint-Maximin, France
41 Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré, 75008 Paris, France
Cécile Léonie Eugénie Gudule Lucie de Rothschild (March 15, 1913 - January 17, 1995), as a child she lived with her family at 23 avenue Marigny and at Laversine. In later years, Cécile lived on the Faubourg Saint-Honoré in Paris, and in a house near to Laversine.
Baroness De Rothschild was a friend of
Greta Garbo. They were close friends, sometimes they could be seen walking
on the streets of New York together. Sam Green says that they were not lovers.
There was just this deep true frienship. Garbo was fascinated and spoiled by
her riches - Cecile was obsessed by Garbo as she was the greatest
screen-legends of all. They were close friends like sisters but many think
they even had an affair.
She was born on 15 March 1913, the daughter of Robert Philippe Gustave de Rothschild (1880–1946) and Gabrielle Nelly Régine Beer
(1886-1945).
She had one sister, Diane Cécile Alice Juliette de Rothschild (1907–1996), married to Anatol Mühlstein (m. 1932), and Joseph Benvenuti (m. 1952),
and two brothers: James Gustave Jules Alain de Rothschild (1910–1982), married Mary Chauvin du Treuil (m. 1938) and Élie Robert de Rothschild (1917–2007), married to Liliane Fould-Springer (m. 1942).
During WWII, her two brothers were captured by the Nazis.
Cécile inherited many Rothschild passions: motoring, haute cuisine, yachting, wine, gardening, golfing and painting. Aged 13, she was given by her father Cézanne's Les Baigneuses, and this item formed the basis of her considerable collection which included a number of works by Picasso.
She was the the companion and protector of the actress Greta Garbo, and on the few occasions when Garbo was seen in public, she was usually accompanied by Cécile.
Cecile Baronne de Rothschild
by Cecil Beaton
bromide print, August 1965
7 4/8 in. x 7 4/8 in. (192 mm x 192 mm)
Accepted in lieu of tax by H.M. Government and allocated to the Gallery, 1991
Photographs Collection
NPG x40354
Cécile de Rothschild's golf career is not comparable to that of her elders such as Pauline de Bellet, Simone Thion de la Chaume and Janine Gaveau or her teammate from Morfontaine, Lally de St Sauveur.
However, she obtained her 1st victory in 1938 in the Vilmorin Cup against Jacqueline Carpentier, daughter of the famous boxer Georges Carpentier.
In the magazine Tennis & Golf of December 16, 1938, Barbara Vagliano gives her impressions "Miss de Rothschild has made during the
year serious progress, she is gifted with great means and knows how to work with courage".
A member of the French team for nearly twenty years, Cécile de Rothschild was a finalist in the International de France match play in 1950. In 1956, at the age of 43, she won the Gaveau Cup, which became the "Janine Gaveau Cup", in tribute to her teammate and friend of the French team who had died six years earlier.
Great, her swing was short and quite fast. Her powerful ball strike was just as impressive as
her trajectories, which on a bad day were reminiscent of the famous "burst" figure executed by the Patrouille Aérienne de France. She played golf without a headache. «A dream partner or opponent" dixit the international champion Mikou Caillol who had met her at the beginning in 1949 during her first participation in the Championship of France.
When Cécile de Rothschild did not play golf, she devoted herself to her other passions:
her English garden of her country house which was located in Noisy sur Oise.
Art painting, she was recognized as an expert in the field.
The trips aboard her yacht on which she received her friends among whom,
Cecil Beaton, the famous English photographer who describes her as "A person of quality, of complete integrity and who has a sense of values", or Greta Garbo whom she met at a dinner in Paris in the early
1960s. Faithful in friendship, Cécile de Rothschild was one of the few people to be able to rub shoulders with the mysterious Divine with whom she
took pleasure in visiting the galleries of the Museum of Modern Art of New York.
Fashion and its creators, from the beginnings of Azzedine Alaia through
Yves St Laurent, Guerlain etc.. She
was often invited to the presentation of the different collections of the greatest couturiers.
Gastronomy, excellent mistress of the house, Cécile de Rothschild, gourmet, received and organized in her mansion, rue Saint Honoré in Paris, sumptuous meals prepared by Michel Roux. This
last before becoming one of the greatest representatives of the French cuisine of Overseas Manche, had made his classes as a kitchen clerk at Cécile de Rothschild. Then he returned as Chef from 1961 to 1967 "She only wanted what was best for her and her guests. She didn't look at the expense, but it had to be good. » . He also
said "At home, I learned to become a gourmet, an essential quality for a chef".
Her passion for art led her to develop a very
discerning eye. One day when her father returned from London, he announced to his children
that he had bought something beginning with a “C”, and that whoever guessed what it was,
could have it. Unexpectedly for a child then aged 13, Cécile acclaimed “Cézanne” and received
“Les Baigneuses”.
Rich, intelligent, cultured, full of humor, free as air, French golf champion Cécile de Rothschild, died in Paris in 1995.
In 1998, the Cécile de Rothschild Trophy was created to endow the International de France stroke play Dames.
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