James Earl Jones | Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex | Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma | Herbert Kitchener, 1st Earl Kitchener | 12th United States Congress | Earl | Frederick Roberts, 1st Earl Roberts | Earl of Derby | Earl Warren | Earl of Pembroke | Robert Harley, 1st Earl of Oxford and Earl Mortimer | Earl of Warwick | Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford | Edward Smith-Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby | Earl of Shrewsbury | William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham | Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester | Eileen Myles | 12th arrondissement of Marseille | Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick | Ponsonby | Earl of Leicester | John Scott, 1st Earl of Eldon | Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex | Robert, 1st Earl of Gloucester | Edward Harley, 2nd Earl of Oxford and Earl Mortimer | Earl of Devon | Douglas Haig, 1st Earl Haig | My Name Is Earl | Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon |
He died on 5 April 2002 and was succeeded by his eldest son Myles Ponsonby, 12th Earl of Bessborough
In 1951, he entered the British government's Foreign Service, later transferring to the Diplomatic Service, and held posts in Egypt (1951), Cyprus (1952–53), Beirut (1953–56), Djakarta (1958–61), and Nairobi (1963–64).
He is the son of Arthur Ponsonby, 11th Earl of Bessborough, and his wife Patricia Minnigerode, daughter of Col. Fitzhugh Lee Minnigerode.