William Paulet, 3rd Marquess of Winchester KB JP (c. 1532 – 24 November 1598)[1] was an English nobleman, the son of John Paulet, 2nd Marquess of Winchester and his first wife, Elizabeth Willoughby.

[3] The offices he held during his career included:[4][5] Paulet was summoned to Parliament on 5 May 1572 in his father's Barony of St John.

During October 1586, he was one of the judges at the trial of Mary, Queen of Scots, later acting as Lord High Steward at her funeral on 1 August 1587.

He is known as the author of The Lord Marquess Idleness, a remarkable and most ingenious acrostic of six Latin verses.

[10] Paulet also had children with his recognised mistress Jane Lambert, who later married the much younger Sir Gerrard Fleetwood:[14][15] He died on 24 November 1598 and was buried at Basing, Hampshire.