Frederick Edward Neuflize "Eric" Ponsonby, 10th Earl of Bessborough (29 March 1913 – 5 December 1993), styled Viscount Duncannon from 1920 to 1956, was a British diplomat, businessman, playwright, Conservative politician, and peer.During the Second World War he served in France and West and North Africa, achieving the rank of captain in the 98th (Surrey and Sussex Yeomanry) Field Regiment of the Royal Artillery (TA Reserve).[7] The couple met in Paris where Lord Bessborough, then Viscount Duncannon, was attached to the British Embassy and his future wife was working for the Red Cross.They married on 29 September 1948,[9] and were the parents of one daughter, Lady Charlotte Mary Roberte Paul Ponsonby (b.He was succeeded in the Irish earldom of Bessborough and the remaining family titles by his first cousin, Arthur Ponsonby.