Henry Cyril Paget, the 5th Marquess of Anglesey, was a singularly remarkable man. He was also an extraordinarily brave man for his day. Born in the depths of the strait-laced Victorian age, he lived a life of extravagance, exuberance and theatricality, fuelling his penchant for cross-dressing and frittering away his estate's millions on gowns, jewels and theatre.
Henry was a committed narcissist, a man who could not love another more than he loved himself. He indulged himself with wanton abandon: as soon as he became Marquess in 1898 at the age of 23, he set about using his privileged, financial freedom to carve a lifestyle for himself that raised Victorian eyebrows. He converted the chapel in the grounds of the family home at Plas Newydd on Anglesey into a theatre, and staged his own productions, with himself as the star.
