The Baron’s name first appeared in the Dutch press in 1918, during a secret German-British conference held in The Hague. After being wounded on the battlefield during the First World War, he began working at the German embassy, where he compiled reports on war news published in English-language newspapers. He also participated in the secret conference where the warring parties negotiated agreements regarding the treatment of prisoners of war and the eventual conclusion of World War I. His experience in English-speaking countries likely played a significant role here. Born in 1882, the Baron moved to America after his university studies to immerse himself in the banking profession. In 1910, he moved to London, where he established his own bank using family capital. During the war, the bank was expropriated by the British as enemy property.
With the assistance of his father-in-law, the banker von Schwabach, the Baron started a bank for the second time, this time in Amsterdam, where many German banks opened branches after the First World War. The Von der Heydt bank managed the financial interests of, among others, Kaiser Wilhelm II, the Austrian Chancellor Riedel, the German Envoy to the Vatican, and those of Freule von Pannwitz, who moved from Berlin to the Hartekamp in Bennebroek in 1921.
In the period leading up to the Second World War, he was directly involved as a banker with various banks in Germany, the Netherlands, and Switzerland, where he also owned properties. When he was in the Netherlands, he stayed above Museum Muluru.
