He was the son of Paul Gustav Schey von Koromla (1855–1922), and the grandson of Friedrich Schey von Koromla (1815–1881).
Schey is described in detail in Patrick Leigh Fermor's 1977 memoir, A Time of Gifts.
Fermor compares him to Marcel Proust's character Charles Swann, and notes that Schey's "extraordinary good looks were marked by a kind of radiant distinction.
[1] Schey is also discussed in Edmund de Waal's 2010 memoir The Hare with Amber Eyes.
Schey married twice and had four children; David René de Rothschild is his grandson.