Born into great wealth, he became one of England's most eligible bachelors, spending his youth travelling, socialising, driving exotic sports cars, enjoying thoroughbred horse racing and playing polo.

In 1967, de Rothschild created the Eranda Foundation[7] to support social welfare, promote the arts and to encourage research into medicine and education.

[8] He was a Governor of the London School of Economics and Political Science as well as an active patron of the arts and supporter of a number of charities.

Sir Evelyn was the founding chairman in 1990 of The European Association for Banking and Financial History in Frankfurt, Germany, a position he held until retiring in 2004.

[9] In 1966, Evelyn de Rothschild married Jeannette Bishop, a niece of Sir Stanley Hooker, the jet-engine engineer.

[12] The marriage, which ended in divorce in 2000,[3] produced three children: On 30 November 2000, Rothschild married the American lawyer and entrepreneur Lynn Forester, who was the head of the Luxembourg-based wireless broadband venture FirstMark Communications Europe and the former wife of Andrew Stein, a New York City political figure who served as the last president of the New York City Council.

On the announcement of the marriage, the de Rothschild couple were invited to spend their honeymoon at the White House, where they agreed to stay one night.

According to The Guardian "sources alleged that [de Rothschild] would “take his pick” of junior staff at the bank and shower them with attention before behaving inappropriately towards them."