Keith Richards and Prince Rupert zu Loewenstein
The Bavarian aristocrat whose financial wizardry turned the Rolling Stones
into musical multimillionaires has died
aged 80.
During almost four decades of handling the band’s affairs Prince Rupert zu
Loewenstein, head of a small London merchant bank, helped Mick Jagger alone
amass an estimated fortune of £200 million.
Prince Rupert’s neat suits and distaste for rock and roll made him an unlikely
member of the Stones’ entourage but he quickly struck up a firm friendship
with Jagger, later becoming godfather to his son James.
Most notoriously, his advice in the early 1970s prompted the band to abandon
their UK residence for the south of France, helping them save millions while
becoming Britain’s first musical tax exiles.
He was instrumental in extricating the band from an unsatisfactory
relationship with their former manager Allen Klein, and his influence helped
convince Jagger to continue touring throughout the 1980s and 1990s when
relationships within the group were cooling.
