The Magic Attic Admires, Vol. 5: Sir Henry Cyril Paget, Fifth Marquess of Anglesby

Another eccentric titled person from the early 20th century who let their freak flag fly and drained the family coffers to do so!

And again, because this is 2026 and you are now obligated to issue a tiresome disclaimer before liking anything: I don't admire the profligacy, just the determination to publicly be his crazy damn self no matter what.

I'll skip the early bio again and get to the point: Henry was a young boy when enough people in the family line died to give him the family

title and money so he hit the ground running and got eccentric early in life.

Photos of his theatrical wear are attached.

Theatrical wear because he converted the chapel at his family's estate to a 150 seat theater where he staged productions of panto, comedy, Shakespeare and Wilde. He even took his productions on tour for three years! He can't have been too bad.

His Find A Grave entry says "Regarded as the "black sheep" of the family, he was dubbed "the dancing marquess" for his habit of performing "sinuous, sexy, snake-like dances"." Never boring!

He made his wife sleep naked in all of the family jewels, which apparently she didn't care for. (It does sound painful.) She also didn't care for his spendthrift ways, and annulled the marriage for that reason, which only gave him leave to really start spending.

In fact, he spent so much money on living the good (and odd) life that despite an income of over 100,000 pounds a year (what would that be in today's money? A LOT) he ended up 544,000 pounds in debt, God love him.

He died very young, age 29, of tuberculosis (in Monte Carlo ... no doubt racking up more debt even as he was dying) with his ex-wife Lilian by his side.

His family, upon his death, converted the theater back into a chapel and destroyed all of his papers, so to this day, we don't know nearly as much about him as we could. I'm sure they felt they were keeping the family name "clean," but what a shame. Wouldn't it be fun to read his life story from his side of things?

The eccentricity, the full commitment to costumes, the theater, the aesthetic! and the full tilt courage to be himself despite his family's lack of comfort with it are the reasons why the Magic Attic Admires Sir Henry Cyril Paget, Fifth Marquess of Anglesby.

Why not, as a nod to the eccentrics Paget and Casati, find a use around the house/for your look for peacock feathers?