Hélène Betty Louise Caroline, Baroness Etienne de Zuylen de Nyevelt (née de Rothschild) (1863-1947)

Hélène Betty Louise Caroline de Rothschild was born in Paris on 21 August 1863. Her father, Salomon, died suddenly in 1864, and her upbringing was in the sole hands of her mother, Adèle, who was inclined towards strictness. Nevertheless, Hélène was able to indulge a passion for horses.

Adèle had strongly disapproved of her sisters' marriages outside the Jewish faith, and when her daughter made the same choice, she cut her off completely. Hélène married Baron Etienne van Zuylen de Nyevelt on 16 August 1887. Together they began the reconstruction of the Kastel de Haar, near Utrecht, but gradually led separate lives. One of her sons was Egmont, the father of Marie-Hélène who married Guy de Rothschild.

When her mother Adèle died, Hélène was devastated and looked to literature for solace. She published around a dozen novels under the name Hélène de Zuylen. Having lived for many years in Portugal, she died in New York on 17 October 1947.