Mansions & Eccentric Dog Ladies

Today we took the bus to Cap Ferrat to tour the Rothschild villa, yet another site that we had failed to visit on previous trips. The French Riviera has long been a winter refuge for aristocrats from all over Europe who built big eccentric mansions in the late 19th century into the early 20th century, tapering off with the second world war. This particular mansion was built by Beatrice Rothschild in 1907 and then bequeathed to the Académie des Beaux-Arts when she died with no heirs in 1934.

Our tour tickets included an audio guide for the portion inside the villa, so we started there. We are both aware that very wealthy people are often odd and eccentric and Beatrice definitely did not disappoint. Similar to many a young heiress at that time, she was “strategically” married off to a much older man that the family thought would advance their business connections in Russia. Unfortunately, the strategy wasn’t sound and Beatrice’s husband, Maurice, sustained some huge gambling losses and then, according to the audio guide, transmitted an infection that kept Beatrice bedridden for 16 months and unable to have children. Reading between the lines, this was almost certainly a sexually transmitted infection. Naturally, Beatrice and the Rothschild family were not pleased and the couple separated.

Beatrice spent the rest of her days traveling the world and just doing whatever the heck she wanted to do. She built a huge garden around her villa with many exotic plants. She hosted lavish parties and balls. She surrounded herself with pets, including dogs, monkeys, and a mongoose. And the best yet, she hosted a wedding for her dogs, with poodles as bridesmaids and a bulldog as the officiant.

After the tour of the villa, we headed out to tour the gardens, which would usually be Becky’s favorite part. Sadly, she just still isn’t feeling well and as morning started to turn into afternoon, it became too warm in the gardens to stay comfortable. We made a quick cursory loop before catching the bus back to Nice. We grabbed some French tacos to fuel up for the walk back to the apartment from the bus stop and then holed up for the rest of the day to rest.