During the final quarter of the 19th century, her husband, the Earl of Rosebery, was one of the most celebrated figures in Britain, an influential millionaire and politician, whose charm, wit, charisma and public popularity gave him such standing that he "almost eclipsed that of Royalty".
Her charitable work was principally in the sphere of public health and causes associated with the welfare of working-class Jewish women living in the poorer districts of London.
[6] In addition to Mentmore, Baron and Baroness Meyer de Rothschild had a large house in London, 107 Piccadilly, and The Zenaide, a luxurious yacht, upon which Hanna's mother died in 1877, the year before her marriage.
[13] Whatever the faults of her education, she possessed great confidence, impressing her Rothschild relations, who noted her poise and competence when she hosted a large house party at Mentmore for the Prince of Wales while only 17 years of age.
[16] Hannah de Rothschild was first introduced to her future husband, the 28-year-old Earl of Rosebery, by Lady Beaconsfield, the wife of Benjamin Disraeli, at Newmarket Racecourse.
While one could be friends with Jews and accept their hospitality, their social status was still not sufficiently elevated to include marriage into the peerage without unfavourable comment.
[28] This factor also worked in reverse; while Hannah de Rothschild was keen to marry Rosebery, she was also aware of many obstacles, the foremost being that she was devoted to her faith, and to leave it would be a severe moral wrench.
Ironically, Hannah herself had opposed the marriage of her cousin Annie de Rothschild to the Christian Eliot Constantine Yorke, the son of the Earl of Hardwicke, in 1866.
[35] The Roseberys divided their year among their various homes: London for the social season and parliament, Mentmore at weekends to entertain both political and shooting house-parties.
"[27] On seeing his son for the first time he remarked "Le Jew est fait, rien ne vas plus,"[39] which must have been disconcerting for the child's Jewish mother.
Rosebery, who has been described as febrile and supercilious,[40] replied in a letter of congratulations on the birth of his heir from Mary Gladstone: "I cannot pretend to be much excited by an event which occurs to almost every human being and which may cause me a great deal of annoyance."
[42] She, by contrast, was completely enraptured by him, and would frequently ignore her neighbours at a dinner party to listen to her husband's conversation further down the table, a faux pas almost considered a crime in Victorian society.
In September 1883, the couple left their children in the care of the nannies and nursery maids, supervised by Rosebery's sister Lady Leconfield, for a long tour of America and Australia.
Lady Rosebery was very taken with California, from where she wrote: "The inhabitants are very entertaining ... the women are very handsome, think nothing of dresses costing £80, "fix up" their faces very frequently and are generally divorced.
Rosebery, a self-centred, reserved man, prone to depression, pessimism and insecurity, had a difficult relationship with his mother, who had been distant and openly preferred his younger brother.
It has been said of Hannah de Rothschild that she grew up with a good sense and presence of mind, enabling her to deputise for her mother on grand social occasions at Mentmore and in London.
"[65] Thus in Rosebery's first serious involvement in politics, Disraeli was defeated and the newly elected MP for Midlothian became Prime Minister for the second time (the caretaker liberal leader Lord Hartington retired in favour of Gladstone).
It appeared that Rosebery was showing his true colours and he was accused of behaving like a spoilt child, with doubts cast over the honourableness of his reasons for refusing the Under Secretaryship of the India Office.
Sir Charles Dilke, considered as a likely replacement for Gladstone,[74] and thus a rival to Rosebery in government, was implicated in one of the most scandalous and ruinous divorce cases of the era.
There was little evidence and Dilke denied the charge, which could have been ultimately forgotten, if Virginia had not suddenly decided to sign a confession giving such lurid details that a great scandal was unavoidable.
On being told that Lady Rosebery was very keen for her husband to become Foreign Secretary, Gladstone replied "She would think herself capable of being Queen of the Realm and think the place only just good enough for her.
[81] Lady Rosebery was also deeply involved with the welfare of young working-class women of the Jewish faith who inhabited the poorer areas of London, in particular Whitechapel.
[91] In 1890 she accepted a luncheon invitation from Lady Rosebery's cousin Ferdinand de Rothschild and toured Waddesdon Manor albeit eating in a separate dining room to the Jewish members of the party.
Winston Churchill thought him maimed by her death, and later said of her "she was a remarkable woman on whom Rosebery leaned, she was ever a pacifying and composing element in his life which he was never able to find again because he could never give full confidence to anyone else.
"[95] Sir Edward Hamilton, Rosebery's closest friend, wrote: Her judgement of a whole was singularly sound and calm; indeed there was a sort of intuitive wisdom about the advice which she would recommend or the consequences of which she would foretell.
[98]Before their marriage and his full-time entry into politics, Rosebery's future wife had written with extraordinary foresight and ambition to him: "I work only to help you, if you are Prime Minister, let me imitate Montagu Corry.
"[99] Lady Rosebery's eldest son, Harry, who was less successful in politics than his father and brother, distinguished himself by becoming captain of Surrey County Cricket Club and owning two Epsom Derby-winning horses.
"[100] Neil, the second of the Roseberys' sons, entered politics but joined the army on the outbreak of World War I and was killed leading a charge at Gezer in 1917.
A few pieces of furniture and paintings were taken to Dalmeny, (the only house to remain in the family) where they are displayed today, and three pictures including Drouais's Madame de Pompadour were purchased for the National Gallery.
[106][107] Her qualities were portrayed in literature when Lady Rosebery was reputed to be the model for Marcella Maxwell in Mrs Humphry Ward's novel Sir George Tressady (1909).