Alexis de Redé
| Alexis von Rosenberg, Baron de Redé | |
|---|---|
Redé in the middle at his Bal oriental in 1969. Photo by Patrick Anson, 5th Earl of Lichfield.
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| Born |
4 February 1922 Zurich, Switzerland |
| Died | 8 July 2004 (aged 82) Paris, France |
| Nationality | French |
Oskar Dieter Alex von Rosenberg-Redé, 3rd Baron von Rosenberg-Redé (4 February 1922 – 8 July 2004), also known as Alexis, Baron de Redé, was a prominent French banker, , aesthete, collector, and socialite.
Oskar Dieter Alex von Rosenberg-Redé was born in Zurich, Switzerland, the younger son and third and youngest child of Oskar Adolf von Rosenberg-Redé, 1st Baron von Rosenberg-Redé (1878–1939), a banker from Austria-Hungary. His father—whose mother was Hungarian, whose father was unknown, and who was adopted by a banker by the name of Rosenberg—became a citizen of Liechtenstein and was created a baron by the Emperor of Austria in 1916. Alexis's mother was Edith von Kaulla, a member of an ennobled German Jewish family that had been part-owners of the Bank of Württemberg. Redé was educated at Le Rosey in Switzerland.
He had two siblings:
Following the suicide of his father in 1939 at the family's estate (Villa Rosin) in the Austrian town of Kaumberg, Redé moved to New York City, where he briefly attempted to acquire American citizenship. His brother committed suicide in Hollywood in 1942, whereupon Redé became the third and last Baron von Rosenberg-Redé, which was typically abbreviated as Baron de Redé in France. In 1946, he returned to Paris, in the entourage of Elsie de Wolfe.
Redé was a committed aesthete. In 1949, he moved into the ground floor of the 17th century Hôtel Lambert on the Île Saint-Louis in Paris and restored the building and its décor. In 2003, he was appointed a commandeur of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, for his restoration of the Hôtel Lambert.
Redé's notoriety rested on being a kept man. His wealth derived from his lover, Arturo Lopez-Willshaw (1900–62), a married Chilean millionaire, who settled $1 million on Redé shortly after they became a couple. Lopez-Willshaw, however, continued to maintain a formal residence with his wife, Patricia, in Neuilly. As Redé recalled of the beginning of his relationship with Lopez-Willshaw, which commenced in 1941 when he was 19, "I was not in love. But I needed protection, and I was aware that he could provide this." In addition, he observed, "The money gave me the security I craved, and it would also enable me to look after my handicapped sister."
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