As I’ve made mention before I am often disappointed to realize that no matter how ‘old a soul’ I possess the reality is that I am living in an age where many of the true Double ‘E’s’ are sadly a relic of the past and unfortunately their like is not to be seen repeated any longer.
A Double ‘E’ in my opinion is the rarefied breed of the combined esoteric and eccentric rolled into one, with no beginning and no end. Seamless as a circle! Complete fluidity of mind that is often at odds with the world around them, and usually misunderstood to the point of being a figure of ridicule, ostracized, or in all likelihood a bit of both.
In my estimation; those considered Double ‘E’ ranked as the purest and most hyper-refined of the esoteric breed. With regard to these individuals; they were so far above and beyond the realm of the mere moral’s reality that they resided; at least mentally and emotionally in an esoteric Valhalla far removed from the existence of others. As such, a plain where the likes of common man would never have survived in comparison!
Throughout the ages there is an unending list of such individuals. One of my favorites, and quite frankly, one who pushed the esoteric envelope with his eccentricities, bankrolled by inherited wealth; was the 5th Marquess of Anglesey. Although I have posted about him before, we’ve fleshed him out a bit, and hopefully done him justice.
Styled Lord Paget until 1880 and Earl of Uxbridge between 1880 and 1898, and also known as 'Toppy', he was a British Peer who was notable during his short life for squandering his inheritance on a lavish social life and accumulating massive debts. Regarded as the ‘black sheep’ of a family known for producing soldiers for the Empire, he was nicknamed ‘the Dancing Marquess" for his habit of performing ‘sinuous, sexy, snake-like dances’.
The Pagets were a particularly illustrious and respected Victorian dynasty. Henry Cyril’s great-grandfather, Field Marshal Sir Henry William Paget, 1st Marquess of Anglesey, KG, GCB, GCH, PCMP had raised a regiment of infantry, served in Flanders and commanded the cavalry with great distinction in Spain
It was at Waterloo Waterloo
However, of his great-grandson, The Complete Peerage said that he ‘seems only to have existed for the purpose of giving a melancholy and unneeded illustration of the truth that a man with the finest prospects, may, by the wildest folly and extravagance, as Sir Thomas Browne says, 'foully miscarry in the advantage of humanity, play away an uniterable life, and have lived in vain.’
For this esoteric, a Double ‘E’ of this stature cannot be dismissed so easily, rashly or conveniently!
Henry Paget, the 4th Marquess of Anglesey
Henry Cyril Paget, 5th Marquess of Anglesey was born on Wednesday, June 16, 1875, the eldest son of Henry Paget, the 4th Marquess of Anglesey by his second wife, Blanche Mary Boyd.
Almost from the beginning rumors persisted that his biological father was not Lord Anglesey, but rather, the French actor; Benoît-Constant Coquelin. A very real rumor that gained currency when, after the death of his mother on Tuesday, August 14, 1877, when he was only two years old, Paget was raised by Coquelin's sister in Paris largely in the company of theatrical people, until he was eight. In retrospect, many believed that these formative years clearly instilled a deep love of showing off, a trait that would become routine in almost everything that he did in his adult life.
Benoît-Constant Coquelin
On Wednesday, June 23, 1880, Paget gained a stepmother, when at the British Embassy in Rome
Like most young nobleman of his time, especially as the heir to a great title and estates, he attended Eton College
On Thursday, January 20, 1898 he married his first cousin Lilian Florence Maud Chetwynd. Lilian or ‘Lily’ was a radiant beauty with flaming red ‘Titian’ hair and flawless dove-white skin. The new Marchioness too came with a ‘checkered’ family history, as Lily was the daughter of the notorious Lady Florence Paget, who was the central figure in a famous romantic scandal from a generation before.
'Lily'
Marchioness of Anglesey
Considered the most outstanding beauty of her day, dubbed the ‘Pocket Venus,’ Lady Florence Paget had become engaged at the tender age of twenty-two, to Henry Chaplin, an intimate of the Prince of Wales. It was regarded throughout high society and aristocratic circles as a ‘perfect match.’ Shortly before the wedding, however, Lady Florence caused a sensation by eloping on Saturday, July 16, 1864, with the Marquess of Hastings, a notorious rake, after a rendezvous in the Oxford Street
That being said, considering she had sacrificed everything for love, it is painfully ironic that Florence
It is said that, on their honeymoon in Paris, when Lily stopped to admire the window display of the famous jewelers, Van Cleef and Arpels, her new husband bought the entire display for his bride, reducing her to tears by forcing her to wear them all to the races. At night he would make her undress and then cover her naked body with jewels until she was dripping in emeralds, diamonds and other precious stones. To add further, she was then made to sleep wearing the jewels all night. Not surprisingly, as a young and innocent girl from a very sheltered background, Lily found the whole experience humiliating, and eventually developed an obsessive hatred for jewelry.
Upon the death of his father on Thursday, October 13, 1898, he inherited his title and the family estates with about 30,000 acres (120 km²) in Staffordshire, Dorset, Anglesey and Derbyshire, providing an annual income of £110,000.
As the new Lord Anglesey, he swiftly acquired a reputation for a lavish and spendthrift manner of living. With full access to the family coffers he used his money to buy jewellery and furs, and to throw extravagant parties and flamboyant theatrical performances. Somewhat irreverently, he converted the chapel at the family's country seat of Plas Newydd, Anglesey , into a 150-seat theatre, named the Gaiety Theatre.
Drawing on his love of acting, he took the lead roles, opulently costumed, in productions ranging from pantomime and comedy to performances of Oscar Wilde's An Ideal Husband and Shakespeare's Henry V. For three years he took his company on tour around Britain and Europe . From 1901 onwards, he staged a series of productions whose scale and cost were boundless. Casts of 50 or 60 were clad in luxurious, fantastic costumes and large amounts of jewellery. Anglesey was especially fond of ‘Aladdin’, and it is believed this light opera was the most performed work by his company. In it, the Marquess played the part of Pekoe, and during the interval would perform his celebrated ‘Butterfly Dance’. What this actually consisted of is unclear, although large gossamer-effect wings and huge clusters of colourful jewels, and a great deal of running around with arms flapping can be guessed at. Hence ‘The Dancing Marquess’.
Lilian, Marchioness of Anglesey disapproved of his lifestyle and obtained a decree nisi of divorce on Wednesday, November 7, 1900; which was later annulled due to non-consummation, according to Lady Anglesey's grandson by her second marriage, the historian Christopher Simon Sykes. The breakdown of his marriage effectively gave Lord Anglesey more freedom to enjoy his self-indulgent lifestyle. By this stage he had already begun to mortgage his estates to raise money.
By 1904, despite his inheritance and income, Paget had accumulated debts of £544,000 and on Saturday, June 11th was declared bankrupt. His lavish wardrobe, particularly his dressing gowns from Charvet, and jewels were sold to pay creditors, the jewels alone realizing £80,000. It was at least in part owing to the debts left by the 5th Marquess that the family's principal English estate at Beaudesert, Staffordshire, had to be broken up and sold in the 1930s.
On Tuesday, March 14, 1905, Anglesey died in Monte Carlo following a long illness, stated as heart failure due to complications from consumption; with his ex-wife by his side, and his remains were returned to Llanedwen Church
An obituary in ‘The Bystander’ cruelly compared him to his heroic great- grandfather and stated: ‘His example will remain one of the strongest arguments against our hereditary system that the most ardent revolutionary would wish for.’
Perhaps one step towards the rehabilitation of Anglesey would be a less cruel comparison to his heroic ancestor. Both, in their very different ways, displayed an indomitable spirit, originality, and determination and courage which an unkind view could say wavered into the realm of abject stupidity. Both, too, were surely in possession of great charisma and a primal Joie da vivre, for how else could they have bonded large groups of people, be they actors or cavalry, and turned them into disciples?
Lilian, Marchioness of Anglesey, had left her husband after only six weeks and began nullity proceedings against him almost immediately. Thereafter, she never spoke to anyone about her marriage to Anglesey . It was as if it never happened. In an effort to find herself, she set about getting lost in the twilight Bohemian world that was emerging in the early 1900’s. Subsidized by Anglesey she settled into a house in London
She also spent a lot of time in Paris
When in 1909, some five years after Anglesey ’s death, Lily announced her intention to marry John Francis Grey Gilliat, who was seven years her junior, the Gilliat family, who were eminently respectable bankers, were horrified. Socially ambitious, they had given their son the perfect upbringing for a country gentleman. Giliat was good looking and charming, a brilliant musician an all-round sportsman, and the last thing his family had in mind for their beloved heir Jack, was marriage to an older woman of questionable virtue. Collectively they pleaded with her to leave him alone, but she showed great strength in that the more they did so, the more determined she became to prove to them that they were wrong about her. As for Jack himself, he was infatuated, and they were married in December, 1909. Lily was now single-minded in trying to attain respectability in the eyes of society, but it proved to be an uphill struggle. After they had attended a party soon after their wedding, given by Lady Evelyn Guinness, their hostess had received a letter from King George V and Queen Mary, who were the guests of honor, telling her, ‘We did not enjoy meeting Mrs. Gilliat!’ The ‘taint’ of her marriage to Anglesey seemed to reach from beyond the grave!
Upon Anglesey ’s death, the family title passed to his first cousin Charles Henry Alexander Paget. Sadly, very little information about Henry Cyril Paget, 5th Marquess of Anglesey exists today. Unlike his forebears and successors, he is not listed in Who Was Who. It seems the 6th Marquess of Anglesey, whose first priority was to reconvert the chapel, systematically destroyed all evidence that his predecessor had ever existed.
Although there are no private papers, correspondence, diaries or itineraries left at all; the existence today of cast lists, visitors’ books and theatre programmes would be especially invaluable, for it will now never be known who his friends, and, of course, large casts of players actually were, who they performed to, and where. It’s not inconceivable that Paget was at least known to Oscar Wilde, Saki, Winston Churchill and Edwardian Society.
Nonetheless, his truly extraordinary if not outrageous life proved to be literally so, for it was clearly a fit of outrage that his successor unhesitantly condemned him to obscurity and disgrace.
This seems a shame, for Henrty Cyril Paget, 5th Marquess of Anglesey was almost certainly an exuberant, popular and, in his own way, brave man, both ahead of his time and of it too.
LORD ANGLESEY ’S JEWELS STOLEN
His Valet Suspected & Arrested
Hawera & Normanby Star
November 2, 1901
Once more the young Marquis of Anglesey, whose mysterious matrimonial affairs attracted so much attention last year, bulks largely in the public eye. He was always a connoisseur in jewelry, and when as Lord Uxbridge in 1898 he wedded his first cousin, Lillian Chetwynd, he loaded her with costly jewels and gems in cases bearing the inscription ‘To Lily from Ux.’ On the death of his father he succeeded to some 30,000 acres and half a million of money and has since devoted himself to the collection of gems and jewels on two continents regardless of the expense.
Last year, a sensation was caused in society when the young Marchioness applied to Sir Francis Jeune for a decree to nullity of marriage, and obtained a decree nisi. Before the decree could be made absolute, however, she appeared before Sir Francis and asked that it should be rescinded. Sir Francis, after describing the case a very remarkable one, granted her requests. All the proceedings were naturally in camera, and there was much speculation in smart society over the real facts of this delicate question.
This week it is Lord Anglesey’s jewelry, not his wife, that is arousing public interest. Rich and rare are the gems he wears, and he travels in the lap of luxury, accompanied by a secretary, a hairdresser, and three valets. He has no town house, but on his visits to London always occupies a suite of rooms at the Walsingham, at the corner of Piccadilly and the Green Park
The Marquis kept the jewels in his bedroom, some on trays in metal boxes, others in use in a chest of drawers. On Tuesday night after a cheery little dinner party he went off to the Lyceum with a friend to see ‘Sherlock Holmes,’ little dreaming as he followed the scenes of the melodrama that at that very time he was sorely in need of a shrewd detective himself. But such was the fact, for on his return to his hotel at about half-past eleven, he found that his jewel cases had disappeared and his valet and taken French leave. The police were called in and a thorough search of the rooms disclosed some of the missing wealth of Ormuz and Ind.
Interrogation of the servants brought to light the thief’s method of procedure, which was as cool as it was simple. While the chambermaid was putting the room to rights Gault was in and out, bustling about and looking after his master’s tings and carried off a basket apparently full of soiled linen. In this were evidently hidden the jewel cases. Wrenching the cases open he must have poured the contents on to the bed of the Tom Tiddlers’ room in order to pocket them with the greater ease, but having been disturbed by some noise, and having possessed himself of the bulk of the booty, he no doubt pushed the remainder across the bed on to the floor.
Gault was seen to leave the hotel at about 10 o’clock and lay low for a day. On Thursday, however, he took the Ostend Express to Dover , only to be collared by a cute detective as he walked up the gangway to the Ostend
The chef de’oeuvre of the missing jewelry was a pearl scarf pin, the pearl pear-shaped and as big as a small pigeon’s egg, worth £10,000. Among the gems stolen were some 40 scarf pins in pearls, diamonds, sapphires, turquoises and emeralds; 40 rings set with an equal variety of precious stones, thirty charms of all shapes and sizes, twelve sets of fancy vest buttons, twenty pairs of sleeve links set with gems, shirt studs of black diamonds surrounded by white diamonds, eight valuable watches, and some chains with diamonds and pearls. Such were the charmed jewels which the gilded youth was wont to unclasp and which he was about to consign to a bank safe when his innocent looking French servant showed a keenly intelligent anticipation of the event before it occurred.
LONDON, September 21, Though the presumptive thief of the Anglesey jewels has been caught no traces of the missing £30,000 worth of precious odds and ends of diamonds, pearls, and other precious stones has been discovered, but hard upon the announcement of the police failure to secure even the regulation clue comes the notification that Walsingham House Hotel, whence the jewels were stolen, is to be pulled down to make room for a new American hotel. Perhaps this was what was meant when the reporters were told that no stone would be left unturned to find the missing gems. Lord Anglesey will probably not appreciate this pardonable little quip, but really the man who carts about sixty or seventy thousand pounds worth of valuables and exercises no more care over them than the average man would bestow on a handful of coppers deserves all he gets, even in the way of bad jokes at his expense.
ACTOR MARQUIS
AND HIS CRAZES
Lord Anglesey’s Latest Toy
Is Superb Motor Car Specially
Made In France
KEEPS THREE VALETS BUSY
Carries A Huge Fortune In Diamonds
Wherever He Goes And Changes All His Jewelry
By Hayden Church
The Deseret News
November 9, 1903
Special Correspondence
Twelve thousand five hundred dollars was the exact price which the ‘Actor Marquis’ paid for his car, but as a matter of fact cost was not taken into consideration, the manufacturers’ aim being to make this automobile carriage the finest thing of its kind in existence. In consequence, the new ‘Pullman Morse,’ as it is called, is swagger enough to satisfy even the young nobleman millionaire whose wholesale transactions in precious stones, gorgeous raiment, and magnificent habitation, not to mention his triumphs as an actor and ballet-dancer have made him famous the world over.
THE VERY LATEST
Needless to say, the Marquis’ car is equipped with all the latest wrinkles in the way of mechanism. The frame for instance, is specially constructed with a wheel base of 10 feet 6 inches, and is suspended on extra long springs, with equal size wheels, all of which are fitted with 12 ‘mm’ continental tires, giving a smoothless of running hitherto unknown. The other ‘improvements’ are of equal importance, but perhaps a description of them would be interesting only to experts in such matters. The luxuriousness of the interior of the car, however, will appeal to everybody. All the woodwork is of polished mahogany. There are four revolving arm-chairs, all upholstered in red morocco leather, and two side tables, which also form small cupboards and drawers. The tops of these are polished beautifully, and they can be opened up so as to form one large table covered on its face with green baize. The ceiling is hand-decorated after special designs in the Louis XV style, while the car is furnished with plush curtains of royal blue and the floor covered with a Wilton
CONVENIENCES GALORE
There are conveniences galore. For example the front of the car inside (behind the driver’s seat) is fitted with a morocco leather hold-all, comprising clock, barometer, thermometer, manicure set, notebooks, looking glass, and an electric telephone to the driver with an indicator marked ‘right,’ ‘left,’ ‘turn,’ ‘steady,’ ‘home,’ ‘quicker,’ etc.
There is not space for a detailed description of this motor-car deluxe, but it may be added that the car is lighted, and can be heated, if necessary, by electricity. The frame and wheels are painted in pale yellow and lined with black, while the body is dark blue and lined in vermillion. As the car is built for luxury, and not as a racer, it is geared to travel at an average rate of twenty-five miles an hour with a full load.
Following the purchase of this car it will be rather surprising if we do not hear from Anglesey Castle Anglesey Castle
PINK EVENING COSTUME
The Marquis also has invented several evening costumes to take the place of the ordinary black and white, which is abhorrent to his aesthetic taste. One of these is of pink and another of blue silk. The nobleman’s very dressing gowns are of good brocade. The magnificence of his bedroom is approached by that of no royal personage in this country, perhaps none in Europe , for it is draped in mauve velvet, with hanging figures of solid silver. Its ornaments are of filigree and gold, and its tables crowded with bottles of the daintiest and most costly perfumes.
His ‘boudoir’ is of green and gold. He has three valets and a ‘coiffeur,’ all of whom earn their high salaries, for it is no unusual thing for this modern Beau Brummell to spend a whole morning working out some special scheme of color by dint of combining the effects of neckties, trousers, waistcoats and spats, discarding, one by ne, such as fail to harmonize. In winter his lordship’s costume is almost invariably a robe of the richest Russian sables, worth in the neighborhood of $7,000.
DISPLAYS OF JEWELRY
It is rather hard to say whether Lord Anglesey is best celebrated as the most extraordinary amateur actor that ever poured out money in embellishing his own productions, or as s collector and wearer of precious stones, whose munificence would not disgrace Monte Cristo himself. As a matter of fact, however, the owner of Anglesey Island
The robbery of some of his finest gems which the Marquis suffered at the hands of one of his valets not so long ago revealed the interesting fact that his Lordship habitually carried about with him jewelry sufficient that his scarf-pin, ring, watch chain, shirt studs and cuff links might be changed several times a day. It may be remembered that the feature of one Christmas entertainment given by the Marquis at Anglesey Castle Anglesey that ‘The Diamond Marquis,’ as he is called, gets his real chance to show what a display he can make of his jewels, which, by the way, have been purchased by the young nobleman in almost every part of the world.
MASS OF GEMS
Of course, readers have been told before of the extraordinary costumes assumed by the Marquis on these occasions. Most of them are simply one mass of glittering gems. For instance, when Lord Anglesey produced his own version of ‘Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp’ in his famous private theater at the castle last Christmas he appeared in one ‘get up’ which probablty was the most magnificent thing ever seen on any stage. It was composed of simply thousands of brilliants stitched to a sort of gauze suit, which covered him from top to toe, so that his body, his arms and his legs alike were a-sparkle. About his neck there were ornamented with bows of them and tassels of gems suspended from his knees.
GYRATING LORDSHIP
It is a question which was most striking, his wonderful headdress, with its gorgeous emerald surrounded by turquoises or the immense rosette which he wore as a breast plate, its center being a ruby as big as a 25 cent piece. In this wonderful costume, with lime-lights trained upon him and the richly covered scene behind him representing the interior of Aladdin’s jewel cave, the Marquis danced and skipped about with much cautiousness at first, remembering that his get-up was not of the most substantial nature. But finally, as the dance music communicated itself more and more inspiringly to the noble heels, his lordship began to gyrate with increasing abandon, with the result that every now and then a diamond or a ruby would become detached from his dress and come tinkling down on the stage or flash away into the wings in a fashion that sent thrills not only through the professionals who were assisting the lordly ‘star’ but through his rustic audience. It must have been a strain on the probity of those who had to pick them up.
‘THE GAIETY’
Of course, everyone knows the story of how the Marquis built ‘The Gaiety,’ as he calls his pocket playhouse at Anglesey Castle, and how it usurped the place of the private chapel of his noble ancestors. The firs pieces which Lord Anglesey produced were drawing room sketches, but these caught on so well with this lordships’ tenants and neighbors, who from the first have constituted his audiences, that the young nobleman was stimulated to more ambitious efforts and so began the series of annual pantomimes at the Castle, in giving them Lord Anglesey is ‘supported’ by really first class talent and which are mounted with a lavishness that would put Drury Lane itself to the blush.
AS A SINGER
The Marquis sings as well as he dances, and it is questionable if ‘Rhoda and her Pagoda’ as rendered by him last winter was not received more warmly than when sung at Daly’s in Piccadilly. He also performed a wonderful butterfly dance, which he ‘dressed’ with a remarkable costume of white satin, with a headpiece of gold and immense wings of shimmering white silk. Colored lights were thrown upon him as he swam about the stage, al Lois Fuller, and a brilliant scene threw his bucolic audience into ecstasies.
TRYING THE ‘LEGIT’
Of late, however, the Marquis has ‘been trying the ‘legit’ playing ‘The Marriage of Kitty’ on tour in Wales , with a specially selected company, and staging the production with antique furniture from Anglesey Castle
It would be rather refreshing to know what would be thought of the present Lord Anglesey’s ‘butterfly’ dances, his gold-brocaded dressing gowns and ping-pong uniform by that sturdy old ancestor of his, the first Marquis, who, as Field Marshall, commanded the British cavalry at the Battle of Waterloo. This veteran originally was Earl of Uxbridge, but was made Marquis of Anglesey as a reward for his share of coming it over ‘Boney.’ He it was who built Anglesey Castle, which with its frowning walls and ramparts, with cannon sticking out of them in business-like fashion, is a long way from suggesting that the energies of its present owner are absorbed by such pursuits as deciding which of his endless collection of neckties harmonizes best with his latest find in spats or in trying the effect of his most recent creation in the way of spangled tights.
THE AIRY FAIRY LORD
The present airy, fairy Lord of Anglesey is the son of the fourth Marquis, who died in 1898. He also sports the title of Baron Paget and Earl of Uxbridge, and before, the stage claimed him for its own, did the fashionable thing by going into the army, being for a year or two a lieutenant in the Royal Welsh Fusiliers, one of the swagger corps. He married the daughter of Sir George Chetwynd and the Marchioness of Hastings, but perhaps Lady Anglesey got tired of the rose-pink existence which prevails at the castle – at any rate, she and the Marquis are now see little or nothing of each other.
NUMEROUS PETS
Needless to say, the Marquis’s magnificent new motor car is not the first one he has purchased. As a matter of fact, he has three more in his private garage, one of them driven by steam, another by petrol and the third by electricity. Not that his Lordship disdains horses; on the contrary, he has about the finest stud in Wales, and his various turnouts are fit for a King. Dogs, however, constitute one of the Marquis’s chief hobbies, and any one visiting his kennels feels as if he had strayed into a bench show. His lordship keeps two packs of hounds, and the names of his other pets are simply legion. They include all sorts of terriers and pugs, Pomeranians, collies, chows, St. Bernards and borzois, not to mention several diminutive foreign dogs that are so delicate that the Marquis has to keep them carefully warmed compartments.
FANTASTIC FOLLY
Lady Henry Somerset
The Spokesman Review
November 26, 1904
It is now half a century since a life of brace service and faithful devotion closed by a peaceful death. In the obituary notice of the Marquis of Anglesey a contemporary journal writes in the following terms:
‘Seldom have bravery, gentleness and generosity been combined in such noble proportions. In his character there was not a fold, it was all open as the day. His politics were thoroughly liberal, and with far more insight and sound statesmanship in them than the world has given him credit for. He had a sound, shrewd understanding, a judgment seldom at fault, often acting like on instinct, and accompanied with a moral courage not inferior to his brilliant physical bravery in the field of battle.’
In the Peninsular War, at the Battle of Waterloo, Lord Anglesey’s name stands among the heiress. At the great decisive battle, when leading the guards, almost the last shot that was fired on that memorable day struck Lord Anglesey on the knee, and it was necessary there and then to amputate his limb, and five days after the victory, he received the dignity of the title Marquis, conferred on him by the Prince Regent, and was nominated Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath. No name probably stood more prominently before the public in the middle of the last century, none more honored, and none more deservedly won a country’s gratitude.
It is therefore all the more pitiful to know that with such a heritage so fantastic a descendant as the present Lord Anglesey should represent so great a name. All England has been laughing over the extraordinary sale of the effects sold by order of the court at Anglesey Castle
Never has any human being squandered money to so alarming an extent, and never has a perverted taste produced such an exhibition of folly. The stately castle amongst the Welsh hills has been the resort of art dealers and tradesmen of all sorts, who have repaired thither to buy the strange collection of personal effects, furniture and jewelry acquired by this eccentric individual. Walking sticks of fantastic device were sold to the amount of thousands of pounds.
For instance one of these possessed a spring, which, on being pressed, caused a diamond humming bird to alight on the handle. Other represented a tortoise, the whole body being composed of Cabuchon sapphire, with diamond head and legs; an ass’ head in diamonds, which moved its ears, and every conceivable design that folly could suggest and money could supply. Among other effects sold was a gold tea set, every cup being of solid metal.
But it was the sale of the Marquis’ wardrobe which has created a sensation. His night attire was of so extraordinary a character that Mrs. Brown Potter’s dresses cold not have rivaled the marvels of the combinations of color. Silk dressing gowns embroidered with gold were disposed of by the hundred; white satin evening clothes to be worn with black shirts, the idea doubtless derived from the circus-clown, for, indeed, the society at Anglesey Castle
But he gorgeous personal wardrobe exhibited at the castle was as nothing in comparison with the marvelous theatrical costumes collected by Lord Anglesey and sol the other day in London
There was a certain fitness in the London
It was a problem hard to solve, whether a monarch a costermonger, a knight of olden days, and Mephistopheles himself had combined their wardrobes to make the sensation of an hour. Little wonder that everyone, as he entered, exclaimed aloud in amazement at the effect of fantasy run riot, the fantasy of a young man who in a few short years had squandered, largely on clothes, a vast fortune, and brought an honored name into contempt, and now compelled to compound with his creditors.
Never probably have Willis’ great auction rooms seen such an array, for if all London theaters had combined to sell their stage properties they cold not have equaled the lavish extravagance of this young man, whose love for stage effects led him into such riotous expenditure. The wigs alone were of all sizes and lengths, ready to supply a Romeo, a Louis VIII, a Chinaman or a Malay.
The contrasts of the costumes were startling. A coronation robe of the time of George IV, in crimson velvet, embroidered with fleur de lys and lined with ermine, was companioned by a suit of corduroy, ragged at the edges and intended to look dilapidated, lined with richest heliotrope silk.
Close to a convict’s outfit was a particularly handsome Chinese mandarin costume, with the Imperial yellow jacket, cloak and hat. A clown’s green dress and hat hung near a gorgeous Louis Quinze costume, with a Rose du Barri silk coat of exquisite quality and richly embroidered. An Austrian white costume, with heavy silk lining, and including a very large cloak, hat and rapier, rubbed shoulders with three ragged minstrel and ‘coon’ outfits.
THe Hessian and Austria
The historical costumes were, however, not only beautiful, they were correct in detail, and carried out in the most lavish way. An Elizabethan blue velvet coat was embroidered in pearls and looked as though it had been worn by a Cecil or a Leicester. The curious taste of the man, with regard to evening dress, is well illustrated by a suit which is entirely in scarlet satin.
He adopted knee breeches, as more artistic than trousers, which, by the way, he would find a strong supporter in the well known artist, Henry Holliday, who is carrying on a crusade in favor of the general use of knee breeches in material suitable at time and place, and the occupation of the wearer. Lord Anglesey’s scarlet suit was supplemented by a large cloak, embroidered in black demons.
Among the fancy costumes the most extraordinary effects were to be seen, ‘Le Roi des Fleurs’ was a dazzlingly gorgeous dress, with the rising sun in paste diamonds, with a cloak of cloth o gold bordered with ermine, and the crown and wand a mass of ostrich feathers and flowers. ‘The Prince of the Air’ was an extraordinary conception, composed of birds of paradise, the cloaks, the shoes and the headdress all covered with their outstretched wings, and a hundred others illustrated the same insane folly.
Imitation jewels glittered on every hand, crowns for mimic Kings and Queens , helmets, swords, belts and weapons of exquisite workmanship, but the strange vanity of the man was emphasized by the fact that, with most of the costumes were clever paintings of him as he appeared decked in his finery.
What will be the life of such a man shorn of its tinsel glory? It would seem best to try to forget such folly, and yet it is with a sad heart that one has to allow that this young man is but the exaggeration of the spirit of the age. Irresponsibility and the madness for amusement characterizes many who have much of this world’s goods, and while the career of this foolish peer has been a matter of jest, it seems to me at the same time to have in it an element of warning, for may it not be that it is the spirit of our time run riot?
Perhaps the whole episode strikes me as all the more terrible, as the willful squandering of money stands out in such ugly contrast to the grim want which, this winter, surrounds us on all hands.
LAST OF THE DANDIES
A Talk With Lord Anglesey
December 7, 1904
The Marquis of Anglesey has been tracked to the Grand Hotel at Dinard, where he lives, a retired life amid perfumes, hair tonics and cheap jewelry. The Marquis’ greatest excitement, it seems, is the anticipation of the arrival of a new stick or jewel from Paris
‘I must apologize,’ he said ‘for not appearing before you in peacock blue plush, wearing a diamond and sapphire tiara, a turquoise dog collar, ropes of pearls and slippers studded with Burmah rubies, but I prefer and always have preferred Scotch tweed.’
I was astonished that Lord Anglesey was so extraordinarily as other men are. However, he has a keen sense of humor, and decorates his temporary home with personal caricatures from our comic papers. ‘Journalists,’ he declared, as he sat down again by the fire, ‘interest me almost as much as I seem to interest them. Can you tell me why they seemed to regard my possession of a cigarette case studded with diamonds and sapphires with such extraordinary surprise?’ I admit such an article is scarcely practical, but it happened to have been given to me by a friend, a Russian Grand Duke.’
‘Well, of course,’ I said, taking up the professional cudgels, ‘it is not given to everyone to do what you have done, is it?’
Lord Anglesey smiled a little bitterly. ‘No, and luckily it is not given to everyone to blessed with such an entourage and such friends as I have enjoyed. However, I’ve learnt my lesson.’
‘You seem to bear your misfortunes very lightly,’ I could not help remarking.
‘Well, they are only temporary, and they can soon be repaired. The sales seem to have gone very well and the removal of some of the furniture is half a blessing in disguise. A good deal of it required replacing.’
Lord Anglesey leaves one with the impression of a man whose tastes and lack of intellect have been enormously exaggerated. He sees no reason why a man should not collect precious stones instead of fossils, and he attributes his present embarrassment to a mistaken belief on his part in human nature.
PRINCE OF DANDIES DEAD
End Of Marquis Of Anglesey
At Monte Carlo
March 14, 1905
The ‘Diamond Marquis of Anglesey,’ as he was commonly called, had been regarded as an anachronism. Extravagant beyond description, a fop, lover of things beautiful, he belonged to the days of the dandies. He was officially described as the 5th Marquis of Anglesey, the Earl of Uxbridge, Middlesex, and Baron Paget of Beaudesert, County of Stafford Waterloo
The late Marquis came into the title seven years ago, at the age of twenty-three, and immediately began to attract attention by his lavish expenditures, his theatrical entertainments and his matrimonial complications. Previous to his succession to the title he had followed much the same course as the rest of his set – Eton , then a crack regiment, the Welsh Fusiliers. Once in possession of the famous estate he broke loose. He had always been much interested in amateur theatricals, a large part of his army career having been devoted to them. One of his first acts as a Marquis was the transformation of the beautiful old Gothic chapel, Plas Newydd, into a gaiety theatre. He also began to spend huge sums on jewels. The Anglesey jewels, which came to him with the titles, have been famous for years, but his new purchases passed them. In the bankruptcy proceedings last year it was asserted for instance, that he owned two pearls, each of which was worth about $50,000. The total amount spent by him for jewels is estimated at considerably more that $1,000,000.
His theatrical entertainments at Anglesey Castle Wales
In ‘Aladdin,’ produced in 1903, he wore a gauze suit, to which had been fastened thousands of brilliants, so that he was all of a sparkle wherever he moved. About his neck he wore strings of diamonds, and on his shoulders were bows of the precious stones. His head was covered with a turban, which would have excited the envy of the ‘richest Rajah of India.’ It contained a magnificent emerald, surrounded by turquoises. On his breast he wore another wonderful arrangement of jewels, the centre of which was a ruby as large as a quarter. Thus gorgeously arrayed he danced, while limelight cast varied hued beams on him.
Another extravagance recently reported was a gorgeous motor car, which contains a boudoir. Its interior was hand-painted. When riding in this the Marquis was accustomed to wear a magnificent coat of Imperial Russian sable, which was worth thousands of pounds, and his motorman was dressed like an Indian prince. He wore strange costumes about his home, and his servants were put into uniforms that matched their masters’. For example, his evening suits were ordinarily blue or pink. His dressing gowns were of the heaviest and richest brocades. His boudoir was in green and gold, and three valets were necessary to aid him in his toilette. After his jewels, his passion, was dress and he was wont to spend the whole morning in devising new color schemes for neckties and the like.
Last year the creditors of the Marquis, to whom he owed $2,500,000, took possession of his castle. This enormous debt he had accumulated in spite of his income of $500,000 a year. The creditors found jewels of every conceivable description. On extraordinary find was worth some $250,000. It consisted of pearls, emeralds, diamonds and gold jeweled cards, cigarette and cigar cases. These were concealed in two trunks. Other finds, some in unlocked drawers, included more than two hundred gold and jeweled scarfpins, sleeve links, and a gold chain twenty-two feet long with wonderful chains of gold and antique silver attached. Numbers of the great clothes presses held scores of suits of every description. Rows of walking sticks alone, mounted in gold and silver and ornamented with jewels, of strange woods and enamels, were catalogued as worth several thousand pounds. Overcoats from modest tweeds to Persian lamb worth three hundred guineas apiece, an sables which are still valuable, hung in rows of twenty in the gallery off the dressing-room. From the ceilings of the bedroom and sitting-room swung silver birds, from the beaks of which electric lights are suspended. In the kennels were hundreds of dogs of carefully selected breeds, many of them prize winners, the favorite having jeweled collars of costly and artistic designs. Many articles such as these with countless minor costly trifles were eventually sold In behalf of the creditors. The Marquis was allowed by the creditors to receive ‘not more than £10,000 per year.’
The Marquis’s matrimonial experiences were as eccentric as his life. He married the beautiful daughter of Sir Guy Chetwynd, and they separated while on their honeymoon, the common report being that he settled, $75,000 a year on her. In 1900 Sir Francis Jeune annulled the marriage, but a few months later the two met on the Riviera
THE MARQUIS OF ANGLESEY
- A Character Puzzle –
T.P.
Otago Witness
May 10, 1905
The case of the Marquis of Anglesey is one that puzzles and baffles the student of human nature and human life. Here is a man, born apparently, to every blessing that fortune and destiny have to bestow – heir of an illustrious name, of a vast fortune, of large possessions, and the only result of it all is that he is dead at 29 years of age, bankrupt in purse, and still more bankrupt in character. Outside that odious army of harpies and sycophants which gathers around every fool with a fortune, there was no one for years so poor to do him reverence. He had the right to be a member of the great legislative assembly which helps to govern the country; he could have associated on equal terms with the highest and noblest in the land; his country offered to him, as to every member of a great family, a hundred avenues of usefulness and to fame, and he preferred the society of wastrels, the outcasts and the derelict of society. If one passes from the individual to the type, and to lessons which one is to draw from such a life and character, I want to know where the wildest and most convinced optimists can find one point to suggest hope, a remedy, a consolation? I candidly confess that I am at the end of all my reflections and aspirations for a change for the better in many, or, indeed, in any, of the conditions of certain types as this. I feel nothing but blank despair, nothing but the hopeless mood of the Russian moujik, who, when he hears of the deaths in far off Manchuria of a hundred thousand of his fellow countrymen, cries out ‘Nitchvenko,’ or of the Mussulman who has ‘kismet’ as the one explanation of every glory and of every disaster. I can only reach the pitiful conclusion that there are born constantly into this world a large number of human beings who had better never have been. The lunatic asylums hold some, the institutions for the imbecile hold others, the gaols hold the vastly largest number. This is enough, but what is still sadder is that the asylum and the institution and the gaol were their foredoomed and inevitable homes from the first hour of their birth. The one way to prevent that final issue of their lives was they should never have live, if that paradox be permitted.
Mysterious Nature
I never saw the hapless youth who now ceases to trouble or shock the world, and I have accordingly to draw my ideas of him from other sources than my personal experience of my own. And first, what was the fundamental fact about his character? I am driven to the conclusion from much that I have seen that there are men who ought to have been born women, and women who ought to have been born men. Nature is still a mystery to us in some of her workings, and sometimes, apparently, she is a mystery to herself. One might fancifully come to the conclusion that she now and then changes her mind, shows caprice or uncertainty of purpose, and oscillating between one scheme and another brings forth a human being who disastrously reflects Nature’s indecision. Bearing the form of a man, he yet had all the tastes, something even of the appearance, of not only a woman, but if the phrase be permissible, a very effeminate women. There are stories told by some of his intimates of an excess of timidity which is rare even among timid women. Here, for instance is what is written on the point one who knew him.
He was of a most peaceable disposition, and was easily terrorized. It is told how, on one occasion in Paris Paris
At the coronation he suffered a most absurd misadventure. He lost his coach, and set out to walk from the Abbey to his hotel. His coronet and robes drew a jeering crowd. He ran; they ran. When he arrived he collapsed in fatigue and terror.
The last is certainly a striking, if painful, picture; it reads like one of the scenes in the French Revolution, where a Du Barri, or some other female favorite of the dying monarchy, was suddenly brought face to face with the mob that was about to destroy all old France.
Effeminacy Run Mad
The strange love of personal adornment was also essentially more like the taste of a woman than of a man. As everybody knows, when the young Marquis found no other way of adorning his person, he thought of the stage. He turned the beautiful old chapel of Anglesey Castle
‘It is possibly true that he spent £100,000 for one costume alone – the main value being, of course, in the gems with which I was adorned. This was his famous dress in ‘Aladdin,’ produced regardless of expense at the Anglesey Theatre. It was composed of thousands of brilliants stitched to ‘o a sort of suit of filmy gauze, which covered him from head to foot. His body, his arms, his legs, and even his head were aglow with the blaze of jewels. About his neck was a string of diamonds, his shoulders were ornamented with bows of them, and tassels of gems swung at his knees.’
‘In this costume he did a butterfly dance, for which he was arrayed in a voluminous robe of transparent white silk. Through this flimsy drapery his slender jeweled legs fitfully appeared, and as he waved the wings he was enveloped in colored lights thrown up from below the great plate glass upon which he went through his antics.
An Interview
There is yet another picture of him which makes one realize, even more than I have just quoted, the strange kind of contradictions his life was. It will be remembered that London
‘He had a suite of rooms at the Walsingham, and he was hemmed in with haughty servitors, in whose ranks were personages who might have stepped out of a comedy playbill.’
‘Thus: Head valet, second valet, assistant valet, first hairdresser, second hairdresser, etc., etc.’
And all as serious as Sultans! The Marquis himself, rosy from his bath (for ‘twas early in the morning, reclined upon a couch. He was robed in Eastern magnificence. His dressing-gown blazed and shimmered with such brillian as to make an expensive kaleidoscope shrink with envy. Yellow Turkish slippers showed silken socks with a twinkle of gold in them. Subtle boudoir scents filled the warm room. On the piano on the table, on the gold mantelpiece, on the music stand, were more Marquess’ – dozens of them, in pictorial and photographic designs.
The Marquis held out a thin, white hand, which trembled with the weight of jewels on his fingers. ‘Its lucky,’ he said, in a high, quavering voice, ‘that I slept with these rings on last night.’ He talked of the loss of £30,000 worth of his darling ornaments as a nuisance, but of the missing things he could give no description. ‘I’ve no idea of details.’ He murmured, wearily. ‘But I believe my secretary has. Dear me.’
The he dismissed the matter entirely, and began to talk about comic opera, and how he was spending laborious days in learning the principal part of some popular stage trifle, the name of which I have forgotten. Then he rang for is head valet, and chided him for putting the wrong scent upon his handkerchief.
The Jewel Glamour
The stories as to his purchases of jewels are just as remarkable. It was, indeed, his passion for jewelry which more than anything else caused his final bankruptcy. This passion for jewelry, it is pointed out by a writer in the Spectator, is very familiar to students of the East. It is one of the many forms of madness among the decandents who sometimes fill high Oriental thrones and command vast Oriental exchequers. ‘The Government,’ says this writer speaking of India
‘Has again and again been obliged to warn the Native princes rather severely of the consequences of indulging a passion for precious stones. An Indian prince, not necessarily a fool, who has once seen a brilliant stone of exceptional beauty, sometimes appears literally unable to go without it, and will give any price or run any risk for is possession. Runjeset Sighn, for example, one of the ablest men in Asia , was, so to speak, mastered by his desire for the Koh-i-noor. The passion, which has shown itself for thousands of years, is one of the arcane of human nature, and is not altogether explained by assuming egregious vanity. There is to some natures a physical attraction in jewels which they are almost powerless to resist.
Oriental Extravgance
The story is well known – it is told in Mr. Marion Crawford’ ‘Mr. Isaac’ of how the Nizam of Hyderabad was induced to buy a great precious stone for something like £350,000, and other stories are extant of even more foolish acquisitions by this or some other Indian potentate. I heard the other day from a friend of mine, who had lived several years in India
‘I have known him purchase as much as £20,000 worth of rings, pins, and watches in a morning. It was, indeed, in his attraction for precious stones that his eccentricity drew near to insanity.’
A jeweler in the Rue de la Paix told me that on one occasion he showed Lord Anglesey a pearl, remarking, ‘that, my Lord, is I think, as fine as any you possess.’ Lord Anglesey thereupon ran from the shop, jumped into a waiting brougham, and in ten minutes came back with a grin of amusement. To the jewelers’ surprise he pulled out about £40,000 worth of pearl pins and necklaces from his pocket and threw them on the counter. ‘Talking of pearls,’ he said, ‘what about those?’
His wardrobe was such another wonder of extravagance and folly. Here is a little thumbnail sketch of him, which gives a good idea of what he must have looked like in his habit as he lived:
‘ His whole appearance was unusual and bizarre. He wore a mixture of colors, which attracted attention at once, and then the blaze of diamonds kept the eye captive. But his face was vacuous and pale, and his attitude was that of an ‘old young man’ bored with existence.’
Sartorial Wonders
When the time came for the disposal of the poor fool’s wardrobe, there was such an array of varied and fantastic clothes as had never been seen before. There were these, some enthusiastic writers says, ‘such sartorial wonders as a sable overcoat, with 20 tails, which was said to have cost the tidy little sum of £1,000, but was knocked down for a mere trifle of £300; while such curiosities as a moleskin coat with raccoon collar, a mink lined coat, and another line with Persian lamb also figured in the list.’
There were also offered 362 fancy waistcoats – bought by their original wearer for a ‘fancy’ price – 227 suits, 73 smoking jackets – made in every conceivable hue – a white suede-cloth evening dress (which had been set off to peculiar advantage by a black shirt), and a choice of assortment of kilts and silk bardic cloaks, in one of which, it was stated, the Marquis had appeared with considerable effect at the National Eisteddfod. Ready purchasers were found for 120 comparatively inexpensive butterfly bows, while his lordship’s undoubtedly genuine Panama hat realized no less than £16 10s. The three days’ auction at Anglesey Castle
Discoveries
When they came to the sale of the jewelry the most remarkable fact I find in all the accounts is that so much of the precious things existed apparently without the knowledge of the reckless and thoughtless owner. ‘Various possessions,’ says one account, ‘were discovered in odd corners everywhere.’
Jewelry valued at £25,000 was found in an unlocked drawer. A valuable old spinet case was discovered – by the buyer at an absurdly small figure, be it added – in a loft over an outhouse.
The furniture of the living rooms was gorgeous. At a writing table, blotter of gold, gold pens set with jewels, gold inkpots standing in gold inkstands; in the bedroom gold goblets, gold-backed brushes, gold puff-boxes; standing about in corners, sticks with jewels in gold settings; even gold statuettes.
In addition to the articles mentioned, in this account, there was a silver mounted crystal ever stowed away in some rubbish which brought in no less a sum that £4,000. It had apparently been forgotten as soon as purchased.
The End
The papers announce that the news of the unfortunate creature’s death produced a great deal of regret in Bangor Monte Carlo
ROMANCE OF THE PEERAGE
Fielding Star
September 15, 1905
Young Lady Anglesey’s announcement that she expects to become a mother in the fall may lead to all sorts of complications. For in the event of her giving birth to a boy the new Marquis of Anglesey will not only be obliged to surrender his peerages, four in number, and his baronetcy, but likewise the whole of the entailed property going therewith, which, freed from its colossal encumbrances by the death of the late Marquis, represents an income of about $700,000 a year, if not more. Nor is that all, for since the death of the late Marquis his successor, now in his twentieth year, has arranged with his trustees for liberal settlements on his widowed mother and his two recently married sisters, settlements, which will, of course, become valueless and inoperative in the event of the young widow of the late marquis giving birth to a boy.
In view of the peculiar features of marriage of the late Marquis with his lovely but eccentric cousin, their repeated separations and reconciliations, the extraordinary appeals of the young Marchioness to the Divorce Court, on one occasion for judicial separation, a second time for an annulment of her marriage, and in the third instance for a withdrawal of he annulment proceedings – applications which the late Lord St. Helier (Sir Francis Jeune) declared to be the strangest that had ever come before him in his long experience as President of the Divorce Court, there is certain to be a contest in the law courts concerning the possession of the property and before the Committee of Privileges in the House of Lords concerning the inheritance of peerages in the event of widowed Marchioness giving birth to a posthumous son. Indeed, the world is likely to be treated to a most sensational cause célèbre, in the course of which the mysterious circumstances of the closing weeks of the life of the Marquis, and especially of his last reconciliation with his wife, will be explained for the first time. Being still a minor, the new Marquis, who is just twenty, and who will not come of age until next spring, has not yet taken his seat in the House of Lords as 6th Marquis. Even if he had been of age he would not have been permitted to do so until a year after his predecessors’ death. This is a precaution adopted by the House of Lords for the purpose of protecting itself against precisely such occurrences as have arisen in connection with the Anglesey succession.
Would You Trust This Man With Your Fortune?
Eccentric, extravagant and outrageous, the 5th Marquis of Anglesey was a jewel among aristocrats. Viv Gardner on recreating the short life of a troubled outsider
By Viv Gardner
The Guardian
10 October 2007
Dinan, Brittany
"I must apologise for not appearing before you in peacock-blue plush wearing a diamond and sapphire tiara, a turquoise dog-collar, ropes of pearls and slippers studded with Burma rubies; but I prefer, and always have preferred, Scotch tweed."
This is how Henry Cyril Paget, 5th Marquis of Anglesey, presented himself in an interview with the Daily Mail, shortly after his bankruptcy, and six months before his death in Monte Carlo
Astonishment was a common reaction to the Marquis. The public couldn't get enough of him. This was a man who frittered away a huge family fortune, mainly on costumes and jewels; who paraded through London with a poodle dressed in pink ribbons tucked under his arm; who amazed his audiences with his sinuous "butterfly dance"; who modified his car so that the exhaust pipe sprayed perfume.
Most of the Marquis's effects were sold from his family estates soon after he was declared bankrupt, and all his personal papers were destroyed by the Paget family after his death. Even today, the family are reticent about their forebear, who brought devastation and distress not just to the Pagets and their property, but to their servants, tenants, neighbours and tradesmen.
Not surprisingly, the 5th Marquis fascinated his contemporaries. A Mrs Anne Jones of Bangor kept an album of photographic postcards of him, which she eventually donated to the museum at Bangor village of Portmeirion Mayfair , perfumed and beringed, carrying the aforementioned poodle under his arm.
My interest in the Marquis began with a family visit to Plas Newydd, the Anglesey home of the Paget family, now partly owned by the National Trust. At the end of the tour of the house, with its stunning views of the Menai Straits and exhibits dedicated to the first Marquis, who lost his leg at the battle of Waterloo, we came across a series of black-and-white photographs of a willowy, moustachioed man covered with jewellery, in a variety of elegant and extravagant poses - a man known as the Dancing Marquis. This was the starting point of a journey that has taken me all the way from Anglesey, via numerous archives (my natural habitat as a performance historian), to a dance studio in Berlin
A black glass floor, criss-crossed like paving stones. A posed figure. A hand held out, finger pointed as if to earth. Water, mirror, Narcissus's pool. A void.
Here in Berlin
The process of transformation from fact to artwork - from past to present tense - is challenging. The recorded facts about Paget are fragmentary and elusive; the suppositions are numberless. What we do know is that Henry Cyril Paget was born in Paris on June 16 1875 to Henry Paget, Earl of Uxbridge, later 4th Marquis of Anglesey, and his wife, Blanche Mary Curwen Boyd. They had married in 1874, and Paget's mother died when he was scarcely two years old. On her death, he went to live with the French actor Benoît-Constant Coquelin - who was rumoured to be his real father. Paget referred to Coquelin's sister as his aunt throughout his life, and she was with him when he died.
At the age of eight, Paget left Paris Wales
This "friend" then goes on to a theme common to all the Marquis's obituaries, laying the blame for his notorious "difference" from other men on his foreign upbringing. "Little time was spent with British boys of his own age," he writes. "Unfortunate surroundings in youth tended to make him perhaps a little un-English."
Paget missed his own lavish, week-long 21st birthday celebrations due to ill health, and a cold could put him to bed for weeks. He learned painting and singing in Germany
In 1898, Paget married his cousin, Lilian Chetwynd. The marriage was annulled two years later - stories abound as to why - but the annulment was changed to a legal separation in 1901. He succeeded to the title of 5th Marquis in 1898, and inherited substantial property on Anglesey and in Staffordshire, with an annual income of over £110,000 a year (roughly £8m in today's money).
By 1904, however, the Marquis had bankrupted the estate, spending thousands of pounds on jewels, furs, cars, boats, perfumes and potions, toys, medicines, dogs, horses and theatricals on a scale unimagined even among the profligate Edwardian aristocracy. Everything was sold to meet his debts, down to the contents of the potting shed and a parrot in a brass cage.
Paget "retired" to France Brittany , and finally to Monte Carlo
We have been reading the catalogues from the bankruptcy sales and wondering at the endless list of items the Marquis had accumulated: hundreds of walking sticks, baubles and gewgaws. Marc is reading the list out loud as he paces the glass floor, when suddenly the strike of his heel emerges as the auctioneer's gavel. The catalogues become the musical text to which he moves.
The Marquis had, among other extravagant acts, converted the family chapel into a theatre where he held free performances for tenants, servants, neighbours and visitors - shows by amateurs or touring professional companies, in which he himself often took part. However, in 1901 he went further, "stealing" a professional company that had been visiting neighbouring Llandudno, appropriating their star players and paying them salaries beyond their wildest dreams.
The Marquis spent the next three years touring with his company around Britain and Europe . Photographs show him in a number of roles - mostly pantomime and musical comedy, though he did once play a convict. He also played Lord Goring in An Ideal Husband, at a time when, five years after Oscar Wilde's trial and imprisonment, many refused to perform Wilde's plays. According to Alex Keith, Paget's actor-manager, "the part might have been written for him, he went through it so naturally".
Paget was, according to one obituary, an actor "of some real merit". The obituary goes on to relate how "upon tour he travelled in great state and at considerable expense". Historian Christopher Simon Sykes describes how the company "travelled with specially painted scenery and their own orchestra, and many of their props were exact copies of furniture from Anglesey Castle Pullman motor car with a personal staff of four. When at Anglesey Castle , he kept actors in lodgings in the neighbouring village of Llanfair
Each of Paget's costumes was specially designed and made to order, either by couturiers or by the London
In many of his shows, the Marquis would entertain the audience in the interval with his performance of a "Butterfly Dance after the manner of Miss Loie Fuller" - a dancer known for her serpentine movements. This vignette earned the Dancing Marquis his nickname.
None of us are quite sure what Fuller's serpentine dance was. We watch snatches of original footage from the early 1900s on YouTube. The eye and mind widen as we watch what might be Fuller herself in an extraordinary fluid and muscular manipulation of yards of silk, using flexible wands to extend her reach. Marc imitates the movements, which are all in the arms, shoulders and upper body.
The Marquis was obsessed with photographing himself. He owned a number of cameras and an early domestic film viewer, a Kinora "mutoscope", which was later sold along with 17 boxes of films, including some depicting the Marquis doing his butterfly dance. He would hand out postcards of himself to his audiences; Mrs Jones's collection of these include many of him posing in costume or in his dressing room, and others of him on a chaise-longue with his pet Pekingese, or at the wheel of one of his five cars (complete with perfume-spraying exhaust).
Each picture is a carefully composed image, a miniature performance. Yet they show the Marquis apparently at his most relaxed. The photographs of him in performance are, by contrast, rather awkward. It seems that in these posed pictures, Paget transformed himself into an image, mediated either through the photograph or through an audience's eyes, that was more pleasurable to him than his real self.
The almost uniformly negative obituaries describe a physically inadequate, emotionally and socially isolated figure. Although Paget was hugely generous, and inspired genuine affection in many of his tenants and servants, he transgressed almost all the norms of the aristocratic world. Even the most perceptive and sympathetic of the obituaries, from the Daily Dispatch, points to "the appalling fact that from his earliest recollection he had been one of those extraordinarily isolated creatures who have never known affection. From boyhood to death no one had ever loved him ... [from which he developed] a strange and repellent spirit opaquely incomprehensible and pathetically alone ... Over all was the self-conscious, half-haughty timidity of the man who knows he is not as other men."
Our discussion turns inevitably to the Marquis's sexuality. Marc wants him to be gay - as lots of people do.
In 1970, Montgomery Hyde, the vocal campaigner for homosexual law reform, described Paget as the "most notorious aristocratic homosexual". We have no evidence either way. Perhaps Paget was a virgin when he died. I feel, from looking at the pictures and reading the obituaries, that he was a classic narcissist: the only person he could love and make love to was himself, because, for whatever reason, he was "unlovable".
Marc takes the coat - a copy of the Marquis's 1,000-guinea sable overcoat - and dances a dance of self-love. Absorbed by the fur, he spirals slowly, finally sinking to the floor. In that moment we see a kind of beauty born out of its own despair, and fleetingly, to borrow WB Yeats's words, we know "the dancer from the dance."
NR
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