News of Evelyn de Rothschild's death was heard across the world, and with a major shaper of British society now gone, who will inherit the dynasty?

The next generation of Rothschild.

END OF AN ERA

More than two centuries after Mayer Amschel Rothschild sent his sons to Paris, London, Naples and Vienna to create what became known as “the world’s banker”, the Rothschild dynasty still reigns.

News recently broke announcing that Evelyn de Rothschild — a man who oversaw the modern U.K. expansion and re-organisation of his family’s historic banking business — had died aged 91.

Evelyn was born into two great European Jewish financial dynasties. He was the son of Anthony Gustav de Rothschild and Yvonne de Rothschild, who herself was originally part of the Bischoffsheim banking family.

Yvonne de Rothschild, wife of British banker Anthony de Rothschild, holding hands with their children in New York in 1937. Evelyn is the young boy on the left.

He was educated at Harrow, a private school, and Trinity College, Cambridge, before dedicating his life to his family’s bank. Evelyn served as CEO and Chairman of NM Rothschild and Sons Ltd between 1976-2003.

This was the direct successor firm to the British branch of the banking house founded by his great-great-grandfather Nathan Mayer Rothschild in 1798.

Nathan is the one who famously made a fortune buying British government bonds in anticipation of Napoleon’s defeat at Waterloo.

Evelyn understood the strong sense of family history found in the annals of the City of London (Rothschild City), and would wield vast influence in Britain’s financial and political affairs.

Evelyn de Rothschild pictured in front of a painting of the family dynasty.

He was chairman of The Economist from 1972-1989, and also devoted increasing energy to philanthropic causes, including Elephant Family, a charity working to preserve wildlife, and the Eranda Rothschild Foundation, which works in medical research, education and the arts.

He played a prominent role in the 1980s programme of privatisation of Britain’s national utilities —including British Telecom and British Gas — led by the government of Margaret Thatcher.

His approach helped secure the bank’s independence through the “big bang” deregulation wave of 1986 and the subsequent series of takeovers in the business world.

He was later also closely connected with the government of Tony Blair and was a long-standing financial adviser to the late Queen Elizabeth II, with whom he shared a great love of horse racing.

In 1989, he was knighted by the Queen for services to banking and finance.

The famous photo of Evelyn and now-King Charles.