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"Rupert first paid a visit to Philipp Reemtsma in Germany to ask advice and enlist his support. Then he went to England to start talks with Sir Edward Baron. He secured the backing of a later faithful ally, the financier Edmund de Rothschild, who knew the Barons well and worked on them to sell their shares and special voting rights to Rembrandt. De Rothschild told the family members with voting rights that Rupert was ‘an honourable man who would look after the interests of the employees’. According to him one of the family members was undecided, and ‘a certain degree of diplomacy’ was necessary to convince him to part with his interests."

"Through Carreras, Rupert eventually also acquired control of the old, established Dunhill. This well-known company, established in London in 1893 by the remarkable entrepreneur Alfred Dunhill, gave him access to the attractive luxury goods market, which would become one of his group’s major assets."

"Nathalie Hocq had such faith in the Ruperts’ integrity and business abilities that she offered Rupert the family share in Cartier after her father’s death. In this way Rupert effectively acquired the controlling interest in Cartier, the international prestige jewellers, via his tobacco interests."

"The new company’s association with Cartier, described as the ‘jeweller of kings and the king of jewellers’ by the Duke of Windsor, the former Edward VIII of Britain before his abdication in 1936, attracted Rupert’s attention as he reviewed their latest acquisitions. Among affluent clients worldwide the name Cartier was legendary. It was an old, established firm with a rich tradition, the kind of business that appealed strongly to Rupert. The Paris firm was established in 1847 by Louis-François Cartier. When the Empress Eugénie, consort of Napoleon III, ordered a silver tea service from him he was made. In 1874 his son Alfred succeeded him as head of Cartier. Cartier’s premises moved in 1899 to Paris’s most fashionable shopping area, the Rue de la Paix, where the shop is still a beacon to tourists. In 1904 Cartier was granted a royal warrant of supplier to the Court of St James by King Edward VII of England. A string of other royal houses followed his example, including those of Spain, Portugal, Russia, Siam, Greece, Belgium and Egypt, as well as the House of Orléans and the principality of Monaco. Celebrities and multimillionaires from all over the world bought their jewellery, watches and valuables from Cartier."