A Life Remembered - Margaret Thatcher, former British Prime Minister

Ten years after the death of Margaret Thatcher, we look at the life of an extraordinary woman and the legacy she left behind. 

Known as The Iron Lady - a nickname she proudly claimed - there is no doubt that Margaret Thatcher was one of a kind. The first, and only to date, female prime minister of Britain, Thatcher served three consecutive terms of office - remaining in power for 11 years, the longest term of any Prime Minister in over 150 years. She is also one of the most polarizing of all politicians, with supporters and objectors still arguing over the legacy she left behind a decade after her death. However, the fact remains that for the daughter of a green grocer to rise to such power at a time when her sex hindered every step of the way is no small feat. So, just how did a girl from Lincolnshire become one of the most powerful women in the world?

Born Margaret Hilda Roberts in October 1925 to Alfred and Beatrice Roberts, young Margaret grew up with her sister Muriel living in an apartment above her father’s grocery business. She went to a local state school before winning a place at Somerville College, Oxford. While her father was a local councilor and a Conservative, it’s believed that it was while at Oxford she developed her love of politics as she was elected president of the Student Conservative Association at Oxford in 1946.

After graduating from college, Margaret went on to become a research chemist at BX Plastics and gained notoriety for her twice failed runs for public office - when she ran in both 1950 and 1951 in the local general elections. As the youngest female candidate in the country, it was at this stage that Margaret started to experience the public interest that would follow her for the rest of her life. It was while running for office that she met her husband, Denise Thatcher. The pair went on to marry with Margaret resigning from her post in BX Plastics and giving birth to twins Mark and Carol in 1953, becoming a lawyer who specialised in taxation. 

Following her eventual election to Parliament as an MP for Finchely in 1959, Thatcher went on to serve a number of shadow cabinet positions under Prime Minister Harold Macmillan before becoming Education Secretary in 1970 under the leadership of Edward Heath. 

It was in 1974 when the Heath Government lost its second general election that Thatcher.

decided to run against Heath for the leadership of the Conservative Party - she won, becoming the first woman to be the Leader of the Opposition in the House of Commons. Following years of economic difficulties and continued trade strikes, public opinion swung back to the Conservatives and Thatcher became Prime Minister of the United Kingdom following the 1979 general election. 

What followed was over a decade of policies that sought to improve economic conditions during which Thatcher’s Government made decisions that caused heated debate across the country, including the start of The Falklands War, trade union reforms which resulted in the miner’s year long strike in 1984 and her continued refusal to acknowledge prisoners in Northern Ireland as political. A few years later, in 1985, she went on to sign the Anglo-Irish Agreement then Irish Prime Minister Garret FitzGerald, which gave the Irish government an advisory role in Northern Ireland's government and confirmed Northern Ireland's constitutional position - paving the way for the Good Friday agreement. 

Thatcher’s third term in office was focused on unpopular reforms to the British educational system, NHS and local government tax, however, it was the long-standing split throughout the Conservative party about a single Euro currency that resulted in a challenge to Thatcher’s leadership. She won the challenge, but by an insufficient margin, due to her strong anti-Europe views and on November 28, 1990, Thatcher resigned as Prime Minister. 

Following a leadership blighted with criticism both professionally and personally, Thatcher’s legacy cannot be underestimated - with modern political commentators still going back and forth over her impact on modern Britain. On the international stage, Thatcher became well known, creating a famously close friendship with then-US President Reagan and gaining the hard won praise of Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev.

Upon leaving the House of Commons in 1992, she was appointed a life peerage in the House of Lords, receiving the title of Baroness Thatcher of Kesteven. In 1995 she was appointed as Lady Companion of the Order of the Garter, the highest order of Chivalry in the UK.

As for the nickname, where did the phrase THe Iron Lady come from? In fact, Thatcher was nicknamed The Iron Lady by a Russian newspaper after she gave a speech on the subject of Communism in 1981. While others were outraged on her behalf, Thatcher was said to have privately revelled in the title. After all, this is a woman who once stated: “If you set out to be liked, you would be prepared to compromise on anything at any time, and you would achieve nothing."

After experiencing a series of mini strokes in 2002, Thatcher withdrew from public life and in her later years lived with dementia that was said to be greatly impacted following the death of her beloved husband. Following a fall while at home during Christmas 2012, Thatcher moved to The Ritz at the invitation of its owners after admitting she struggled to manage the stairs at her Chester Square home. On the morning of April 10 following a stroke while in her suite at the hotel surrounded by those who cared for her. Her twins were abroad at the time of her death.  

After her death, Thatcher was granted a ceremonial funeral with military honors at St Paul’s Cathedral after a request was made to Queen Elizabeth II from the government and the former prime minister's family several years previously, while the country was under the rulership of Tony Blair. The issue of granting Thatcher a state funeral had been vetoed by the lady herself several years earlier, for fear that voting for the approval of funds to pay for the spectacle would lead to a divisive debate in the Commons as the procedure requires a parliamentary vote. Thatcher’s funeral was the first of any former prime minister to be declared ceremonial, and only the second to be attended by Her Majesty, after that of Winston Churchill. While Churchill was the first prime minister to serve during her reign, Thatcher was the longest and while the pair were long thought to have a turbulent relationship both personally and professionally, Her Majesty’s attendance alongside that of The Duke of Edinburgh was thought to signify the greatest respect for Baroness Thatcher.