[Peter Libra]

Your comment #24.

A family that lost a great deal of their wealth in WWII and are now only minor layers but get hauled out when people need a boogieman to scare small children.

I have to go with my own personal view of the Rothschilds. I must concede I have not done any research on the present status of this family. I know that in my native country, England simply that the name meant great wealth. Rothschild bankrolled England with funds to build the mighty Suez Canal. The French engineered it under De Lesseps. The poor Egyptian labourers slaved to complete it in 1867. The British guarded it.

The real story of Downton Abbey is based on Almina, the illegitimate daughter of Baron Albert Rothschild. Her mother was Mina Wombwell, a married woman. Almina inherited huge wealth when her father died. She married into high society to Lord Carnarvon in 1895.

[Peter Libra]

Whoops! My usual typo here, on quoting your entry. Should read:

.....and are now only minor players.

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

They were a very wealthy and powerful family prior to the World Wars. They lost part of their wealth in World War I but they lost a great deal in World War II. A good portion of their art collection, which was magnificent, was never recovered.

Don't mistake me, they are not living under bridges in a cardboard boxes, but in comparison to the wealth and power others have accumulated since they are pikers.

A good comparison is to the Vanderbilt family here in the US. Their name was once a byword for great wealth. Now they are in the same position. Not exactly starving but no where near what they once were.