The magnificent marquess... and his high road to ruin
VEN in an age of excess it was extravagance beyond all imagination. He spent millions on fancy dress, strutted the streets with pink pampered poodles and adapted his five luxury cars so perfume would billow from their exhausts.
Wearing make-up to perfect his pale complexion and adorning himself with glittering jewels the young man was known for his habit of performing “sinuous, sexy, snake-like dances”.
Although the flamboyant styling and spending habits were akin to a modern day diva, the eccentric behaviour belonged to Henry Cyril Paget, 5th Marquess of Anglesey.
As the eldest son of the 4th Marquess and the great grandson of notable war hero Field Marshal Henry William Paget, he inherited his title from the famous historical figure who was known for his bravery on the battlefield - and the loss of his leg.
But the young Paget’s outrageous and lavish lifestyle was a world apart from his predecessors, living up to every negative stereotype of the aristocracy at the time.
Born in Paris on June 16, 1875, rumour about his true paternity was rife - with many believing his true father was, in fact, French actor BenoitConstant Coquelin.
After his mother died when he was two, Paget left Paris and was taken to live at Plas Newydd, Anglesey, when he was eight, following his father’s third marriage to an American heiress. The young marquess spent little time with other children his own age.
School at Eton College followed, then rather surprisingly a commission as a lieutenant in the Royal Welsh Fusiliers.
Upon the death of his father in 1898, Paget inherited his title and took control of the family estates - including the family seat at the Anglesey mansion. The income earned from a family mining business alone brought in more than £110,000 a year - around £11m by today’s standards.
He was expected to marry, have children, and live a respectable life as a man of high status and wealth. He married his cousin Lilian Florence Maud Chetwynd on January 20, 1898.
Their honeymoon, where he returned to Paris, led to the Marquess purchasing an entire window display of gems for his new bride, after which he insisted she cover her nude body with the precious jewels... then simply sat and stared at her figure adorned with the sparkling emeralds, diamonds and rubies. Her fair beauty, porcelain complexion and willowy frame were believed to be what the Marquess hoped he could be.
Their marriage was annulled after three years, on the grounds of nonconsummation.
With his wife gone, he buried all expected conventions, pouring his fortune into high class jewellery, outlandish items and haute couture. He frittered away fortunes on furs, costumes and lavish parties.
He focused on his love of performing, transforming the family chapel into an opulent 150-seat theatre where he always took the lead role in elaborate costumes, performing to his servants before going on to perform free shows for the locals.
For his first production, Aladdin, he hired professional actors from London and lit a pathway of flaming torches up to Plas Newydd to guide audiences to his theatre.
He hired professional actors at an inflated salary to go on a European tour with him, with an army of musicians and stage hands which needed five trucks to carry the equipment.
But his most famous act was the “Butterfly Dance,” which earned him the nickname “The Dancing Marquess.” He would perform “sinuous, sexy, snake-like dances”, taken from American dancer Loie Fuller.
Transgressing the expected aristocratic duties to provide an heir, favouring a flamboyant life of glamour while performing works from the then recent trial of playwright Oscar Wilde for homosexuality was considered a dangerous game to play.
Shunning conventional notions of gender, class and demeanour, Henry Paget’s sexuality had always been subject to speculation and still remains unclear today.
His six years of relentless spending led to his bankruptcy in June 1904, owing the modern day equivalent of a quarter of a billion pounds. His vast number of belongings were sold off. Most of his debtors got their money back in an auction which lasted 40 days with a massive 17,000 lots.
Somehow he was awarded by creditors a sum of £3,000 per year to live on – today about £150,000.
He later moved back to France, but only five months later he contracted tuberculosis and died with ex-wife Lily by his side. He was just 29 years old. Without an heir, the estate and the title was inherited by his cousin, Charles Paget, who deplored the young Lord’s lifestyle - and the fact he squandered away the family fortune.
All of his papers and personal effects were destroyed, in an attempt to erase his six years as Marquess of Anglesey from history.
Although generous to his tenants and servants and well-loved by Anglesey locals, his lifestyle infringed almost every aristocratic social norm at the time, which led to obituaries that mocked his way of life.
But as one obituary put it, “his was forever remembered as the self-conscious, half-haughty timidity of the man who knows he is not as other men”.