Loelia Ponsonby is James Bond's shared personal 00-Section secretary in many of Ian Fleming's novels. The name of the character may be based on the Duchess of Westminster of the same name
Novel biography
Ponsonby is also the secretary for 008 and 0011, both of whom share an office with Bond. She has a stern character but maintains a flirtatious relationship with James Bond. It is revealed that she served in the Georgian group in Italy and never let Bond forget it, he goes as far as to send her a postcard on the topic while in Venice in "Risico". Ponsonby was quite superstitious and warned Bond not to fly in an airplane on Friday 13th in From Russia with Love. She later retires after she marries a member of the Baltic Exchange and is replaced by Mary Goodnight.
Scrambled Eggs Recipe
A recipe for the way Ponsonby cooked scrambled eggs is listed at the end of the short story "007 in New York":
SCRAMBLED EGGS JAMES BOND
For FOUR individualists:
- 12 fresh eggs
- Salt and pepper
- 5-6 oz. of fresh butter
Break the eggs into a bowl. Beat thoroughly with a fork and season well. In a small copper (or heavy-bottomed saucepan) melt four oz. of the butter. When melted, pour in the eggs and cook over a very low heat, whisking continuously with a small egg whisk.
While the eggs are slightly more moist than you would wish for eating, remove pan from heat, add rest of butter and continue whisking for half a minute, adding the while finely chopped chives or fine herbs. Serve on hot buttered toast in individual copper dishes (for appearance only) with pink champagne (Taittainger) and low music.
Trivia
- The character of Loelia Ponsonby was in the draft of the film GoldenEye, though failed to make the final cut.