Hannah Rothschild on privilege, duty and shaping a centuries-old dynasty

Dame Hannah Rothschild has long understood that being born into one of Europe’s most storied dynasties confers not only privilege but a deep sense of duty, as she works to guide a centuries-old family network into its next chapter.

At the age of nine, the eldest daughter of the late British financier Jacob Rothschild started sitting at the dining table with visiting business figures, listening and absorbing conversations about subjects such as the Japanese economy.

The intellectual atmosphere of her childhood was shaped by regular guests, including ballet legend Rudolf Nureyev, painter Lucian Freud and philosopher Isaiah Berlin.

Now, at the age of 63, Hannah sits on the boards of RIT Capital Partners, the former Rothschild Investment Trust, as well as Windmill Hill Asset Management, while serving as a director at Five Arrows, the alternative assets arm of Rothschild & Co.

The author and filmmaker also chairs the Rothschild and the Yad Hanadiv foundations, long-standing family institutions.

“We were born to feel it was an incredible gift and an accident to be born with this privilege… It is our responsibility to make the most of it,” said Hannah during a special recording of “CNBC Meets: Legacies” at a private banking event in Singapore organized by United Overseas Bank.

While the seventh-generation scion admitted feeling nervous about the weight of that responsibility, Hannah told CNBC’s Tania Bryer she feels proud to have proved her worth “both inside the family and outside the family” through hard work.

“I think it is fair to say that the name Rothschild walks into the room before you do. It comes with enormous history, quite a lot of gravitas, quite a lot of conspiracy theories, and quite a lot of responsibility,” she added.