Thatcher Funeral Service Is Held In London
A horse-drawn gun carriage bore the coffin of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher to London’s St. Paul’s Cathedral today [Apr. 17] for a ceremonial funeral marked by military pageantry — 700 soldiers, sailors and air force personnel lined the route — and heightened security.
Around 4,000 police officers were on duty in central London as 2,300 dignitaries, friends, ex-colleagues and family members attended her service at St. Paul’s including the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh.
Former US Vice President Dick Cheney and former Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger were also present. Former Prime Minister Tony Blair attended, as did F.W. de Klerk, the former president of South Africa.
The coffin was draped in the Union flag, crowned by a wreath of white flowers with a handwritten note: “Beloved mother — always in our hearts.”
Mrs. Thatcher was Britain’s first female Prime Minister, serving in that office from 1979 until 1990. Her radical, market-driven policies and determination to eliminate labour union power made her one of the UK’s most divisive leaders. She died following a stroke last week at the age of 87.
Flags on Government buildings in Bermuda flew at half mast to mark her death and Government House opened a Condolence Book.
Mrs. Thatcher paid two well-publicised visits to the island — the first as Prime Minister for a Good Friday summit meeting with US President George H.W. Bush in 1990, the second in 2001 as a private citizen to address a meeting of political and business leaders organised by her friend, former Bermuda Premier Sir John Swan.
In her August, 2001 speech, she said of Bermuda: ” … It never ceases to fascinate me how misfortunes often have a happy outcome. Who could have thought that Admiral Sir George Somers’ shipwreck on this coast in 1609 would mark the beginning of so fruitful a relationship between these islands and Britain.
“Tradition has it that Shakespeare based his play ‘The Tempest’ on Somers’ experience. Perhaps Bermuda with its golden beaches and azure sea bears little resemblance to Prospero’s dark island. Yet the two clearly share one common advantage for as the poet wrote: ‘How many goodly creatures are there here! How beauteous mankind is! O brave new world That has such people in’t’ …”
Former Bermuda Premier Dame Jennifer Smith met Mrs. Thatcher during that visit and last week recalled: “She was a woman of great intellect and great accomplishments. Although I admired her achievements, particularly her success in revamping the British civil service, we were on opposite ends of the political spectrum – she, a Conservative and me, a Labourite.
“You can imagine how I wondered what we could talk about when it transpired that she would be visiting Bermuda and I was to have the privilege of sitting next to her at a luncheon at the Commissioner’s House for the Bermuda Maritime Museum in 2001.”
Mrs. Thatcher is seen here during her 2001 visit to the Bermuda Maritime Museum
Dame Jennifer continued: “Prepared to be totally overwhelmed, I was unprepared for the warmth of her greeting and her careful attempts to put me at ease.
“I learned that we shared a love for hard work, service, and commitment to making a difference – not to mention that we also shared the practice of canvassing in heels and a love of champagne.
“That afternoon at Commissioner’s House ensured that I never again judged people I did not know on ‘face value’. Baroness Thatcher was so much more than her ‘Iron Lady’ image – she was a woman, a caring mother, a loving wife, a concerned and involved citizen who changed her country. She will be mourned and missed by all who knew her and all who benefitted from her life.”
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I cleaned my car instead!