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P R I C E L E S S
Don’t be afraid
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Oldie
It's a chocolate box sort of afternoon. At the flagship branch of R Chocolate in Belgravia, three small girls and their mothers are enjoying an after-school treat amid toy soldiers, red ribbons and caramel elephants. An aged billionaire shuffles over to their table. “Have you had some chocolate?” he beams. “Please! You must have some more chocolate…”
As a parent, this is exactly the sort of thing you like to see, isn’t it? A stranger plying your darlings with sweeties before teatime? But this is Sir Evelyn de Rothschild, and when it comes to chocolate he’s really just a big kid. At 86, he’s living out his own childhood dream of owning a chocolate shop, a short taxi ride from the Chelsea home he shares with his third wife, Lady Lynn Forester de Rothschild: American lawyer, businesswoman, fundraiser and BFF of Hillary Clinton. And as she tells me: “Evelyn would like to think of chocolate as a health food. My son once said to me: ‘You know why I love Evelyn? Cause he considers the cocoa bean a vegetable.”
The Rothschild banking fortune dates from 1760s Germany; the family is remarkable for managing to maintain its wealth across multiple lines in France, Austria, Germany, Italy and Britain. Sir Evelyn is part of the London branch. He spent most of his career running N M Rothschild & Sons bank but has also found time to launch The Economist in China, set up an elephant charity with the Maharajah of Jaipur and serve as financial adviser to the Queen, who knighted him in 1989. “No one is tighter at spending than the Queen. She grew up during the War. Very disciplined.”
Sir Evelyn first entered the chocolate business in partnership with the award-winning chocolatier William Curley in 2010, but having parted ways, Sir Evelyn is now oomphing it all up with the help of his daughter Jessica (who is based in LA and married to the filmmaker Sacha Gervasi), Ben Elliot (founder of the Quintessentially concierge service) and new head chef Christopher Dodd. There’s a micro-chocolaterie in Richmond (all cocoa is sourced from Original Beans), a boutique in Soho and this dreamy café, with its heavenly scent and piles of ganaches, Florentines and ingots. Lady Lynn is running late, so for the moment I have Sir Evelyn and a cup of first-rate hot chocolate.
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