In Geneva, the nonagenarian Nadine de Rothschild, at 93 years old, is engaged in a legal battle against her daughter-in-law Ariane and her four granddaughters to recognize the inheritance of Edmond de Rothschild and access to the artworks of the Pregny Castle. Since 2021, hearings, foundation, and museum projects have intertwined. At the heart of the matter: what becomes of a private collection when it claims to be for the common good?
The Setting of Pregny, Between Splendor and Silence
The Pregny Castle overlooks Lake Geneva, a vast residence where the salons long echoed with elegant conversations and raised glasses. The house still evokes the evenings of Nadine de Rothschild. Once a star of the stage, she has become the guardian of a meticulous art of living. She now lives apart, in a simpler villa in the Geneva countryside. The castle door no longer opens for her. She has made it a matter of justice, an archive file, a public cause.
Pregny is not just a family refuge. It is a theater where woodwork and European mythologies interlock. It contains old masters, drawings, and objects of Edmond de Rothschild‘s taste, a discreet banker and great collector. Moreover, it possesses a recognized art collection. It is also a place where transmission, loyalty, the passage of time, and the fact that not everything can be repaired are tested.
Nadine, From the Stage to the Guardian of a Name
Before bearing the name that made chroniclers dream, Nadine Lhopitalier was an actress. She became Nadine de Rothschild in 1963, Edmond’s wife. Her style was imposing. She wrote bestsellers on etiquette, made a profession of etiquette, intonation, and measure. She had a quick wit and a keen eye. She settled into television memories, confident, even when the audience was difficult. She belongs to those post-war figures who learned to hold a table and lead a life.
Widowhood began in 1997 with Edmond’s death. The baroness then had the responsibility of a memory. She claimed to act to preserve it. In her mind, the art collection patiently gathered by her husband should breathe outside the walls. Thus, she wanted it to be seen and instructive. She maintains that Edmond’s will grants her a share of the works kept at Pregny, in Geneva. Since 2021, she has been demanding a precise inventory. Thus, she wants to distinguish what belongs to her from what remains for her son’s descendants.
Edmond, the Collector and the Legacy of a Taste
Edmond de Rothschild loved works that do not shout. The Pregny Castle still gathers them, like a cabinet of shadows and lights. Nadine says that the deceased’s will entrusts her with a part of this treasure. She nuances, explains, cites the texts and their spirit. She wants to put order in this constellation and entrust it to an institution that would bear the couple’s name.
At the heart of the project is a foundation. The Edmond and Nadine de Rothschild Foundation, the pivot of the heritage project, gathers the ambition of a Geneva museum. Moreover, it embodies the idea of an open house. In the former outbuilding of the estate, the Pregny Pavilion, Nadine envisions a small place of memory around Empress Elisabeth of Austria, known as Sissi. She sees it as a public tribute to a European figure, a play of mirrors with the history of taste. This museum, she says, would be a way to anchor the name in the city. She wants Geneva to benefit from this collection and for the works to breathe again.
Benjamin, the Wounded Heir and the Intimate Fracture
One must tell the story of Benjamin de Rothschild to understand the pain that has settled on the family table. An only son, leader, man of projects, he knew the weight of surnames and expectations. The relationship with his mother became distant, several witnesses declare. The stories mention disagreements, clumsiness, often thwarted tenderness. Nadine’s transfer of more than 160 million Swiss francs to another bank would have infuriated the son. Indeed, this bank does not belong to the family group. The breach was opened. There is talk of silences, separate parties, missing words.
On January 15, 2021, at Pregny Castle, Benjamin dies. Nadine claims to have been informed too late and does not attend the funeral. The shock is both familial and legal: the disappearance reshuffled the cards of usufruct and access to the premises. The intimate fracture becomes a legal dispute.
Ariane, the Calm Power and the Domestic Citadel
Facing the baroness, Ariane de Rothschild today imposes herself as the axis of the family group. Widow of Benjamin, leader, she has chosen reserve. She occupies Pregny with her four daughters, young women whom the press names in hushed tones. Her principle is clear. She defends a concentrated patrimonial vision. The works would remain in the private circle and not float from one institution to another. She supports the thesis of a collection inseparable from the places where it grew.
Her camp relies on arguments of usufruct, access, and conservation. It reminds that a castle is not just a setting but a living organism, with its constraints and circulations. In June 2024, Geneva jurisprudence marked a turning point in the Geneva inheritance case. It recognized the granddaughters’ use of the main castle. Consequently, the legal door closed on Nadine’s hope of accessing the collections through this means. This decision does not settle the entire matter, but it erects a truly domestically consolidated citadel.
The Judges of Geneva, Arbiters of the Long Term
In the bright rooms of the Geneva civil court, the battle has moved from the salon to the bar. The first judgments have drawn a sinuous line. An action brought against Ariane was declared inadmissible. The judges directed Nadine towards her four granddaughters, now direct heirs of the deceased father. They are recognized as legitimate parties to the dispute. The procedures have followed their course, with their delays, their writings, their doors ajar and immediately closed.
On another front, the justice recognized the foundation’s right to use the first name Edmond. It was a point of principle. Nadine saw it as a symbolic validation of her project. However, the same jurisdiction confirmed the usufruct of the castle for the benefit of the heiresses. It thus deprived the baroness of the most concrete lever. The works are at Pregny, in Geneva. The keys too.
The Foundation, Promise of a Museum and Source of Misunderstandings
Nadine presides over her foundation with conviction. She surrounds herself with loyal collaborators. The Geneva project is modest and precise. It is installed in a location away from the castle. Moreover, it is designed to welcome a curious public. There, one imagines showcases, short texts, a sensitive narrative of the Europe of the arts. The former actress knows the importance of settings. She wishes for a carefully crafted path, a clear graphic identity, a publishing program. She even mentioned boutique items with the couple’s initials. It’s like a discreet nod to an era of correspondences and stationery.
This is where the misunderstanding grew. During private meetings in the summer of 2024, the baroness presented an idea to her granddaughters. She proposed to extract all the works from the castle to entrust them to the foundation. The astonishment would have been palpable. Ariane and her daughters intend to preserve the integrity of the whole, its paths, and its breathing. They defend the coherence of an art collection that would lose its soul if fragmented. Two visions face each other. The first places the public interest at the forefront by entrusting the works to an accessible place. The second protects the intimacy of a family collection, relying on the future. It counts on its own ability to keep the name alive.
The Advisors, the Shadow Cast and the Conditional
Around the baroness, advisors appear, described as indispensable supports. Their names circulate in the pages of newspapers. Nicolas Didisheim accompanies the steps and dialogues with the courts. Frédéric Binggeli follows the assets and manages part of the patrimonial strategy. According to some accounts, they would have played a decisive role. According to close sources cited, their influence would be strong with Nadine. Nothing provides definitive proof. The conditional is necessary. What is attested relates to their functions and their presence alongside the baroness in the governance of the foundation and exchanges with the press.
These names also speak to the solitude of a very elderly woman facing a legal labyrinth. Old age and vulnerability form a blind spot of great dynasties. They raise the question of autonomy and decisions made at the twilight of life. They emphasize that a heritage is less a chest, but rather a series of choices. These choices include their blind spots, regrets, and sometimes their grandeur.
The Public Word, Between Confidences and Red Lines
Nadine has not deserted the media scene. In 2023, she published a book on women bearing the title of baroness, Very Dear Baronesses of Rothschild. This book is addressed to her granddaughters. She expressed her anger and her project to the newspapers. The interview given to L’Illustré at the end of September 2024 reignited the saga. She mentions a bequest to a museum in Israel if Geneva does not embrace her ambition. The phrase struck a chord. It also strained the already fragile threads of a reconciliation barely sketched during the summer.
The granddaughters, now young adults, remain silent. Lawyers rework the formulations. The discretion of Olivia, Noémie, Alice, and Eve is preserved. They hold the use of the castle. They are also the custodians of a name that one would like to be light and that weighs as much as stone. The debate is between intimate demand and public display. It oscillates between the virtues of openness and caution. This caution concerns conservation within the walls.
The Scenes, the Dates, and What They Leave Behind
Images remain. A table set at Pregny, the heavy glasses, the trays sliding like in a theater. 1963 and a wedding that opens a social life. 1997 and the shadow of a mourning that cuts the world in two. 2015 and the baroness’s move to a quieter house, far from the grand staircase. 2021 and this January 15 when everything collapses. 2023 and the book opened like a letter. 2024 and the justice that carves out the use of the places. On November 27, 2025, a press investigation reignites the affair in the public arena. It adds its stories and hypotheses. Moreover, it includes its journalistic bindings.
The dates do not make a novel, but they mark a heritage conflict. One returns to them to understand why a family so concerned with its image suddenly accepts public exposure. Moreover, it allows its disagreements to be told aloud. One reads a conflict of interpretation. Edmond’s will becomes a text to decipher, with its clear lines and white margins. The law does what it can. The genealogy, however, weighs with all its might.
At the Level of Geneva, a Question of General Interest
The affair goes beyond the society column. It poses a broader issue concerning Geneva and its cultural policy. A modest-sized museum is housed in a pavilion. Could it nourish a collective narrative around the Rothschild art collection? Moreover, this surname has become so common that it is almost abstract. Or should this narrative remain within a house where memory is cultivated in secrecy, at the Pregny Castle? The two ambitions respond to each other. One prioritizes access, the other coherence. Both claim fidelity to Edmond.
At a time when great families are rethinking transmission, the story of Pregny says something about European heritage. It tells of the difficulty of adjusting private taste to public interest. It forces consideration of the sensitive part of decisions. It imposes looking at age and its slowness, love and its brusqueness. It finally reminds that works, once exposed, pose a tacit contract with the city.
Legal and Museological Landmarks
In Swiss law, usufruct grants the enjoyment of a property in accordance with the will of the disposer. Meanwhile, a foundation must pursue a determined goal under the supervision of an independent authority. In Geneva, cultural policy values public access, mediation, and the territorial coherence of projects. Applied to Pregny, this framework calls for three requirements: preserving the integrity of ensembles rather than a decorative mix; ensuring transparent and finalized governance, aligned with the professional standards of ICOM; providing a true public service through reception, mediation, and traceability of works in case of transfer or loan. These benchmarks offer an evaluation framework beyond the family saga and place the dispute in a logic of general interest.
Memory and Heritage: Open Issue
Nothing is finished. Justice will continue its work. Lawyers will rewrite. The hours of Pregny will pass. Perhaps the foundation will find a path. Surely the granddaughters will accept a form of sharing that neither compromises the security of the premises nor the visibility of the works. Certainly, on the contrary, the collection will remain on its pedestals, offered only to the eyes of those in charge.
At 93 years old, Nadine has not given up. She speaks of duty and memory. The word comes back, simple and straightforward. Her Geneva project embraces the idea of a heritage put at the service of the public. On the other side, Ariane and her daughters invoke the responsibility of a lineage and the prudence of guardians. In Pregny, the fight is not just for a bunch of keys. It is a fight for a definition of the common good and for the meaning of a name.