He married in 1961 and had two daughters (born in 1962 and 1965). Porter's wife, Shirley Jannice Henry, committed suicide in 1974 and was found dead in her parents' house in Marlow, Buckinghamshire. In 1991 Porter married Christine Berg, a child psychologist. In 2001, he was named Poet in Residence at the Royal Albert Hall. In 2004 he was a candidate for the position of Professor of Poetry at Oxford University.