Odd Bedfellows

 

The fellow we used to see in this parish who called himself Tuscan Tony (now either banned from blogging by the fair Tuscana, or perhaps more of a Facebook man), nevertheless stays in touch. As he surveyed the Daily Mail this weekend, perched upon his Tuscan hillside in balmy early spring sunshine (or driving Apennine sleet, take your pick), he alighted upon this story and sent it to me.

I worked for the said Bavarian princeling and his clients the Rolling Stones as investment director for about five years in the early 90s. Without betraying confidences, I am surprised that Rupert Loewenstein has written any book at all, let alone a memoir of his life as financial advisor to the Stones. He was an aesthete, with a penchant for classical music and expensive books and manuscripts. His house on the Thames at Petersham was splendid. He always behaved like an old-fashioned English gentleman banker, for whom discretion and reticence were second nature (and, *ahem* still are, for some). I liked him very much. Without ever running the risk of overpaying me, he was otherwise generous, letting me stay in his house in LA on occasional visits and treating me (correctly, I thought) as though I were a junior partner of his bank. His one failing was to serve German wine at lunch, with its overtones of air freshener.Otherwise, he came across as an English aristo, albeit more of a metropolitan one rather than a landowner.

I also liked Jagger and would happily have spent more time in his company discussing cricket and politics. But this was the nineties, not the sixties. I have to imagine what he was like in 1968. Louche, lascivious and lefty, I would have thought. And he might – just might – have had an ego thing.

So it is a delicious irony that the modern-day Sir Michael Jagger, Kt, should be referring to Prince Rupert as his ‘ex-bank manager’ and accusing him of ‘bad manners’! Wonderful. "Those financial professionals are such riff-raff, are they not, Keef?" "Yeah, brother, I hear ya".

Loewenstein was a canny banker and a very good businessman. He was the architect of the band’s massive touring income. I think I’m right in saying that he was the first man to get an entire world tour underwritten by a sponsor, which effectively changed the game for all the big acts who came later. Touring had been a loss-leader for selling records; I doubt Rupert was quite brilliant enough to see the end of record/cd sales quite so far in advance, but by golly the Stones were the first to benefit from the big touring bucks.

They were good for one another. I am surprised at a public tiff.