Myles Ponsonby

Myles Walter Ponsonby CBE (12 September 1924 – 1 February 1999), was a British soldier, intelligence officer, diplomat and politician. He was Ambassador to Mongolia from 1974 to 1977.

Early life The son of Victor Coope Ponsonby MC and Gladys Edith Walter, Ponsonby was educated at St Aubyns, Rottingdean, and at Eton College.

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). In 1964, he went to Hanoi as Consul-General, and was in London at the Foreign Office from 1966 to 1969. He was then head of the office of the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) in Rome from 1969 to 1971, returned again to London to serve in the newly merged Foreign and Commonwealth Office from 1972 to 1974, was British Ambassador to the Mongolian People's Republic for three years, 1974–1977, and simultaneously an observer for MI6. He ended his official career with a further posting to the FCO from 1977 to 1980. Anne Ponsonby died in 2023.

Honours Commander of the Order of the British Empire, 1966