Edmund Leopold de Rothschild Major Edmund Leopold de Rothschild , CBE , TD ( 2 January 1916 – 17 January 2009 ) was an English financier , a member of the prominent Rothschild banking family of England , and a recipient of the Victoria Medal of Honour ( VMH ) , given by the Royal Horticultural Society . Life and career . Born in Westminster , London , he was the second child and first son of Lionel Nathan de Rothschild ( 1882 – 1942 ) and Marie Louise Eugénie de Rothschild née Beer ( 1892 – 1975 ) . Widely known as Eddy de Rothschild , he graduated from Trinity College , Cambridge , after which he traveled the world . Returning home , he went to work at the N M Rothschild & Sons bank but shortly thereafter World War II broke out and he joined the British Army . An artillery officer in the Buckinghamshire Yeomanry , he served with the British Expeditionary Force in France then fought in the North African Campaign and in Italy with the 77th Field ( Highland ) Regiment , then became a major in the newly formed Jewish Infantry Brigade . In May 1946 Rothschild was demobilised and once back home in England he returned to work at N M Rothschild & Sons . As his father had died in 1942 , he was then a partner but one with very little experience . Tutored by his uncle Anthony Gustav de Rothschild , he played a key role in the continuing success of the bank , and became its Chairman from 1970 to 1975 . An aggressive business developer , during his career Rothschild flew the Atlantic Ocean more than four hundred times playing a key role in developing British interests in postwar Japan and was a significant part of the Rothschild syndicate that formed the British Newfoundland Development Corporation to undertake mineral exploration in Labrador , Canada and to develop the Churchill Falls hydro - electric dam . On 22 June 1948 Rothschild married Elizabeth Edith Lentner ( 1923 – 1980 ) . They had the following children : From his father , Rothschild had inherited Exbury Gardens in Hampshire which had fallen into severe disrepair as a result of the War . While pursuing a career in banking , he also set about restoring the renowned gardens . Edmund ' s expertise became such that in the 1950s and 1960s he served on the Council of the Royal Horticultural Society . Elizabeth Lentner de Rothschild died in 1980 and Edmund remarried in 1982 to Anne Kitching ( 1921 - 2012 ) . Over the years he was involved in a number of philanthropic causes and in recognition of his services , the New Year Honours 1997 made Rothschild a Commander of the British Empire . Still active into his nineties , he was President of the Association of Jewish Ex - Servicemen and Women ( AJEX ) . In 1998 , he appeared in the Chuck Olin documentary film titled " In Our Own Hands " that told the story of the only all - Jewish fighting force in World War II . Like other members of the Rothschild family , he was an art collector , but the maintenance and development of the Exbury gardens was his most important pastime . In 2001 , the American Rhododendron Society in Eugene , Oregon awarded him a citation in appreciation of his many services to the horticultural world . In 2005 , the Royal Horticultural Society bestowed on him the Victoria Medal of Honour , the highest accolade in the British gardening world . Rothschild established a charitable trust to manage Exbury Gardens with which his children are involved . In 1949 he published " Window on the World " , an account of his world tour of 1937 – 39 . His autobiography was published in 1998 . He died in 2009 at the age of 93 .