Arthur Paget (diplomat)

Sir Arthur Paget GCB, PC (15 January 1771 – 26 July 1840) was a British diplomat and politician.

Arthur Paget was the third son of Henry Paget, 1st Earl of Uxbridge and his wife Jane Champagné daughter of Arthur Champagné, Dean of Clonmacnoise in Ireland. He was a younger brother of Henry Paget, 1st Marquess of Anglesey. He was educated at Westminster School and Christ Church, Oxford, but did not take a degree.

In 1791, he entered the British diplomatic service. In 1794, he was elected as Member of Parliament for Anglesey. He nominally represented this for 13 years, though usually abroad. In 1794, he was sent as Envoy-extraordinary to Berlin to remind King Frederick William II of his obligations, a service in which Lord Malmesbury the ambassador commended him for his tact.

His next appointment was as Envoy Extraordinary to the Elector Palatine and the Perpetual Diet at Regensburg in 1798, followed by Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary first at Naples in 1800 and then at Vienna the following year. He remained at Vienna until 1806, being nicknamed "The Emperor" on account of his extravagance.