The death of a man who claimed to be an heir to the Rothschild banking dynasty was an accident, a coroner has ruled.

William Alexander de Rothschild, 87, perished in the blaze at his $1 million Laurel Canyon home on November 27.

His primary cause of death was listed as ‘hypertensive cardiovascular disease,’ or heart disease, with ‘inhalation of products of combustion’ also listed, the Los Angeles Times reports.

He was positively identified using DNA records on January 28, according to the medical examiner’s office.

The exact cause of the fire remains under investigation by the Los Angeles Police Department and the Fire Department. 

Neighbors said Rothschild told them that he was a member of the prestigious European family of the same name, whose fortune is worth billions of dollars. 

However, he did not appear anywhere on the storied family’s official genealogical records and his brother has since identified him as William Alfred Kauffman.

Kauffman changed his name in a petition to the Los Angeles County Superior Court in 1985, records show. 

William Alexander de Rothschild, 87, perished in the blaze at his $1 million Laurel Canyon home on November 27 (pictured in his high school photo)

A coroner has ruled he death of a man who claimed to an heir to the Rothschil d banking fortune was an accident

William Alexander de Rothschild, 87, perished in the blaze at his $1 million Laurel Canyon home on November 27

In his application, he told the judge: ‘I want to take my family name, that I prefer to Kauffman, it would simplify my life greatly, taking the name from my mothers side’.

The name change was granted and Kauffman became de Rothschild for the remainder of his days.

Neighbors pointed to an extensive car collection of Jaguars and Ferraris as evidence of his family’s famed wealth.

One man told the Times that Kauffman came off as ‘educated’ and ‘very polite’.

‘He carried himself like I think a Rothschild would,’ said the neighbor. ‘The money is there, whether it is Rothschild money or not.’

However, the newspaper was unable to verify reports that he had donated classic cars to LA’s Petersen Automotive Museum.

His brother Richard Kauffman said he had lost touch with his sibling decades ago and believed him to be dead already. 

‘I had no communication with my brother,’ Kauffman said. ‘I was glad to know he actually did [live] a long life. 

Neighbors said he told them he was a member of the famed banking family and pointed to an extensive collection of classic cars as evidence of his wealth

His primary cause of death was listed as ‘hypertensive cardiovascular disease,’ or heart disease, with ‘inhalation of products of combustion’ also listed

‘It would be nice if the fire was not the cause of death. I would not want anyone to experience death by fire.’ 

Kauffman was described by his neighbors as a recluse, whose only real passion in life was his car collection.

Court records show he was married to Margaux Mirkin in Nevada in 1999. Mirkin previously ran her father’s high-end rental car service.

Bizarrely, neighbors said they knew Mirkin as either Kauffman’s cousin or sister – not his wife and her name is linked to a property along the street from Kauffman’s.

Kauffman’s two bedroom, 825-square-foot home meanwhile did not bear the typical trappings of a de Rothschild residence even prior to the fire.

The one bathroom house is worth an estimated $1,076,000, according to Zillow.

The Rothschild family built their fortune establishing banks in Europe and is worth an estimated $1 billion.