[2] The senior branch of the Paulet/Powlet/Poulett family was seated at Hinton St George in Somerset, and had lived in that county since the early thirteenth century; the first Member of Parliament from that line represented Devon in 1385.

Knighted before the end of 1525, he was appointed Master of the King's Wards in November 1526 and appeared in the Privy Council in the same year.

[8] He married Elizabeth (d. 25 December 1558), daughter of Sir William Capel, Lord Mayor of London and Margaret Arundell in 1503, and by her had four sons and four daughters:[9][10] During his long career Paulet held numerous offices, which included:[9][12] Paulet's political career began in 1529, when he was elected knight of the shire for Hampshire.

[12] In 1535 and 1536, he served as one of the judges for the trials of John Fisher, Sir Thomas More, and the alleged accomplices of Anne Boleyn; in 1535, he became Lord Chamberlain.

He partially led the royal forces against the Pilgrimage of Grace, a rebellion that broke out in the autumn of 1536, and in 1538, he became Treasurer of the Household.

[8] He continued his political manoeuvres in 1549 by supporting the Earl of Warwick against the Duke of Somerset—in reward, on 19 January 1550 he was given the Earldom of Wiltshire and Somerset's position of Lord Treasurer.

Late in life, he opposed any military support of Continental Protestantism, as he feared it would cause a breach with strongly Catholic Spain.

On the accession of the Catholic Mary he announced his reconversion and commenced persecuting his former Protestant co-religionists, even denouncing Bishop Bonner for "laxity in prosecuting the heretics."

On Tuesday 21 August 1554, when Mary went into Westminster Abbey her train was carried by Elizabeth, Marchioness of Winchester and Anne of Cleves.