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He was the Pope’s right hand man, a practising occultist, a spy and a fantasist.

His wild society parties attracted everyone from HG Wells to high profile Nazis – all of whom he’d entertain by dancing with his pet kangaroo.

But now a new book about the notorious Lord Tredegar Evan Morgan, entitled Hush Hush: The Peculiar Career of Lord Tredegar, aims to tell his outrageous story in full for the first time.

It also aims to redress the legacy of a man who, while eccentric – possibly to the point of madness – deserved greater recognition for how he served his country.

Writing it has been a labour of love for its author Paul Busby, who first fell under Morgan’s alluring spell while working at Tredegar House in Newport, the late aristocrat’s former home.

“I got there as a tour guide 14 years ago and can recall being shown the ropes by an elderly volunteer,” said the 34-year-old historian.

“And, as we passed by paintings of such family luminaries as the first Viscount Tredegar, who featured in mighty military operations like The Charge of the Light Brigade, he stopped and pointed at Evan’s portrait, saying, ‘and this one here should have been throttled at birth’.

“Well, after that I just had to find out more,” he said, adding that he was first intrigued by the paradox of Morgan being both chamberlain to Pope Pious XI and a veteran dabbler in the Black Arts.

“He’d met and become friends with infamous occultist Aleister ‘The Great Beast’ Crowley in Paris in the 1920s.

“In fact, Crowley called him Adept of Adepts, which means ‘the best of the best’ – Evan also went by the name The Black Monk, although you couldn’t fail to spot him with his robes on because that big beak of a nose would always poke out from underneath his cowl.”

So how on Earth did he serve so highly in the papacy for most of the 1920s and 1930s?

“Good question, to which my answer is ‘don’t know’,” said Busby.

“I’m not sure why the Vatican, where Evan lived for one month of each year, put up with it – it’s also said he’d often go directly from his papal duties to the grave of the Romantic poet Shelley in Rome and perform incantations.”

Perhaps – given that King Paul of Greece took him as a lover and Queen Mary called him her “favourite bohemian” as he read her palm – it was all down to how well connected he was?

“Well, British Intelligence certainly used him, and he was close to the likes of Lloyd George and Churchill’s Minister of Information, Brendan Bracken,” said Busby.

“Ultimately though, he was a consumptive who, despite being desperate to join in the second World War effort, got turned away by the Welsh Guard.

“So he ended up being put in charge of the Third Monmouthshire Battalion of the Home Guard – essentially he was our version of Captain Mainwaring from Dad’s Army.”

And several of Morgan’s attempt at foiling Nazi plots might well have been lifted directly from the script of that classic sit-com.

“While he was with MI8 he hatched a plan to drop hundreds of spy pigeons from planes, but they just ended up getting sucked into their engines,” he said.

“Effectively, he just ended up showering the enemy with mince meat.

“And let’s not forget the time he blabbed top secret information to some girl guides he’d shown around his office.

“He got a spell in the Tower of London for that and MI5 had to bail him out. Why MI5? Again, maybe he knew too much and had to be kept in check.

“Furthermore, the chap who tried to have Evan court marshalled ended up dying mysteriously a short while later – it’s suggested he and Crowley had performed some kind of ritual to bring it about.”

Severely reprimanded, Morgan was sent back to Wales to see out his days throwing the sort of boozy bashes he’d hosted in his ‘30s heyday – his guests ranging from Brave New World author Aldous Huxley to KGB agents and Hitler’s close friend Princess Stephanie Hohenlohe.

“Was Evan still gathering intel for the secret services? We can’t be too sure because he could also be something of a Walter Mitty.”

But, be it truth or lies, the life of Lord Tredegar often proved so much stranger than fiction.

“It’s like Aldous Huxley himself once said, ‘Why even bother trying to make up characters for one’s books when real people like Evan Morgan already exist,” added Busby.

Hush Hush: The Peculiar Career of Lord Tredegar will be out later this year