Myles Fitzhugh Longfield Ponsonby, 12th Earl of Bessborough (born 16 February 1941), is a British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 peer.

He is the son of Arthur Ponsonby, 11th Earl of Bessborough

Arthur Ponsonby, 11th Earl of Bessborough

Arthur Mountifort Longfield Ponsonby, 11th Earl of Bessborough , was a British peer.He was the son of Maj. Hon. Cyril Myles Brabazon Ponsonby, second son of Edward Ponsonby, 8th Earl of Bessborough, and his wife Rita Narcissa Longfield, daughter of Lt. Col. Mountifort John Courtenay Longfield...

, and his wife Patricia Minnigerode, daughter of Col. Fitzhugh Lee Minnigerode.

Education and career

He was educated at Harrow School

Harrow School

Harrow School, commonly known simply as "Harrow", is an English independent school for boys situated in the town of Harrow, in north-west London.. The school is of worldwide renown. There is some evidence that there has been a school on the site since 1243 but the Harrow School we know today was...

 and Trinity College, Cambridge

Trinity College, Cambridge

Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Trinity has more members than any other college in Cambridge or Oxford, with around 700 undergraduates, 430 graduates, and over 170 Fellows...

. Later he was invested as a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants.

Family

In 1972 he married Alison Marjorie Storey, daughter of William Storey, and together they have three children:

• Hon. Frederick Arthur William Ponsonby, styled Viscount Duncannon (born 9 August 1974)
• Lady Chloe Patricia Ponsonby (born 1975)
• Hon. Henry Shakerley Ponsonby (born 1977)

Succession

The heir apparent to the earldom is the current earl's eldest son, Frederick Ponsonby, Viscount Duncannon. In 2005 he married Emily Mott, daughter of Dr. Peter Mott, and together they have two children:

• Hon. Eleanor Grace Ponsonby (born 8 May 2006)
• Hon. William Ponsonby (born 6 May 2008)