of Home Forces. Paget retired in 1918. That year he was appointed King of Arms of the Order of the British Empire. He spent much of the remainder of his life at Cannes, where he died at the Villa Valhalla, Chemin de Benefiat, on 8 December 1928, and was buried in Le Grand Jas cemetery. Personality and Assessments Besides his main interest in horse racing, Paget also hunted and fished and later took up gardening, golf, and yachting. He later became interested in botany. Paget talked of the "dirty swine of politicians. Scornful of formal study of war, he once remarked that he 'lived history rather than read it' (The Times, 10 Dec 1928). Sir Harold Nicolson wrote that "he was not a man of measured language or meek tact". Victor Bonham-Carter (p78 of "Soldier True", his biography of Robertson) described him less diplomatically as "a stupid, arrogant, quick-tempered man". Ian Beckett describes him as "while often genial ... also inclined to be pompous, and liable to angry rambling. He was the wrong man in the wrong place as the Irish home rule crisis deepened ... It is important to emphasize that no direct orders of any kind were disobeyed, exacerbating Paget's error in offering a choice whether to obey orders in the event that they were issued". |- |- Personal life In July 1878, Paget married the American heiress Mary "Minnie" Fiske Stevens (1853–1919) daughter of Massachusetts hotel proprietors Paran Stevens and Marietta Reed Stevens. She was a major beneficiary of her father's estate, which was the subject of thirty years' litigation after his death in 1872. Described by Ian Beckett as "vivacious", she became a noted London society hostess, famed for her jewels. She organised bazaars and functions in aid of armed forces charities. Lady Paget died of influenza in Paris in May 1919. The Pagets had three sons, who all became army officers, and one daughter: Albert Edward Sydney Louis Paget (1879–1917), who was unmarried. He died on active service from the effects of poison gas in August 1917. Louise Margaret Leila Wemyss Paget (1881–1958), who married her distant cousin, the diplomat Sir Ralph Spencer Paget, son of Sir Augustus Berkeley Paget and Walburga, Lady Paget. Arthur Wyndham Louis Paget (1888–1966), who married Rosemary Victoria Lowry-Corry, daughter of Brig.-Gen. Noel Armar Lowry-Corry. Reginald Scudamore George Paget (1888–1931), who married Minnie Louise Claussenius, an actress whose stage name