Hélène de Rothschild
| Hélène van Zuylen | |
|---|---|
Nouvelle Revue internationale illustrée, December 1908
|
|
| Born |
21 August 1863 Paris |
| Died | 17 October 1947 (aged 84) Lisbon |
| Nationality | French |
| Other names |
La Brioche, Paule Riversdale Snail |
| Occupation | Rothschild, author |
| Known for | Poetry, plays and stories First woman to compete in an international motor race |
| Title | Baroness |
| Parent(s) |
Salomon James de Rothschild (father) Adèle von Rothschild (mother) |
Baroness Hélène van Zuylen van Nijevelt van de Haar or Hélène de Zuylen de Nyevelt de Haar, née de Rothschild (21 August 1863 – 17 October 1947), was a French socialite, author, a sporting figure in Parisian life and a member of the prominent Rothschild banking family of France.
Her main creative writing period was from 1902 through 1907 when she collaborated on stories and poems with her lesbian partner Renée Vivien.
Together with Camille du Gast and Duchesse d'Uzès Anne de Rochechouart de Mortemart, Baroness Hélène van Zuylen was one of a trio of French female motoring pioneers of the Belle Epoque. She entered the 1898 Paris–Amsterdam–Paris Trail using the pseudonym Snail, thus becoming the first woman to compete in an international motor race.
An only child, the daughter of Salomon James de Rothschild, she was disinherited for marrying a Catholic, Baron Etienne van Zuylen of the old Dutch noble family Van Zuylen van Nievelt. Thus, her childhood home, the Hôtel Salomon de Rothschild, was bequeathed to the French government by her mother. Her extensive refurbishments to the van Zuylen ancestral home Kasteel de Haar near Utrecht turned it into one of the foremost Gothic Revival castles in the Netherlands.
She was nicknamed La Brioche, and used the pseudonym Snail for motor racing whilst her husband, Baron Etienne van Zuylen, competed as Escargot (French for snail). In collaborations with Renée Vivien she used the nom de plume Paule Riversdale.
Hélène Betty Louise Caroline de Rothschild was the daughter of Baron Salomon James de Rothschild and Adèle von Rothschild (the daughter of Salomon's German cousin Mayer Carl von Rothschild). She was raised at the Hôtel Salomon de Rothschild at 11. rue Berryer in the 8th arrondissement in the heart of Paris, near the Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré. Her mother bequeathed the property to the French government fine arts administration rather than to her only child, because Hélène was disinherited for marrying a Roman Catholic.
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