From champagne salesman to the Red Baron?
The Rutzen Arms takes its name from Baron Charles Frederick de Rutzen, a German nobleman who married local heiress Mary Dorothea Phillips and played an important part in the development of Narberth during the early 19th century.
The Rutzen Arms became known as a “select” meeting place for local businessmen and distinguished visitors. Among those who came through its doors, it is said,was a young German champagne salesman named Manfred von Richthofen.
Within a few years, the world would know him by another name; the Red Baron.
During the First World War, von Richthofen became Germany’s most famous fighter pilot and one of the most feared opponents of British and Allied airmen. Flying his distinctive red aircraft, he became an aviation legend whose story has since appeared in countless books, documentaries and films.
It is an extraordinary thought that, before becoming one of the most famous names of the First World War, the Red Baron might have visited Narberth to sell champagne.
Next time you pass the De Rutzen Arms, imagine the young Manfred von Richthofen walking through its doors, long before his name became known around the world