ABSTRACT
Alfred Charles de Rothschild's career relegated to the margins of his family's history is not only of interest in its own right; it also throws an illuminating flashlight on the activities along the fringes of official diplomacy and high politics in Victorian and Edwardian Britain. The Rothschild family and its global banking operations have exercised an enduring fascination on writers and a wider public alike. 'Mr Alfred', the younger brother of Nathan Mayer, the first Lord Rothschild, has remained something of a man of mystery. The family's political affiliations were with the Liberals, largely on account of religious liberties for nonconformists. In general, the Rothschild's remained loyal to the parliamentary leadership of the party. The Rothschild's possessed extensive political contacts. A stint at the Rothschild house in Paris in the late 1860s sharpened his instincts for diplomacy. He was certainly aware of the marked decline in the French Rothschild's political influence during the sunset period of Napoleon III's reign.
