Born in Vienna, he was the fifth child and first son of Anselm von Rothschild (1803–1874) and his wife Charlotte von Rothschild (1807–1859). His grandfather Salomon Mayer von Rothschild (1774–1855), a native from Frankfurt, had founded the Viennese S M von Rothschild banking house in 1820, continued as the Creditanstalt by his father.