Grand Last Farewell to “Iron Lady” Margaret Thatcher

The streets of London were filled with people on Wednesday as Londoners came out in droves to watch the final send-off to modern Britain’s most decisive political figure, Lady Margaret Thatcher, as her funeral cortège made its way towards St. Paul’s Cathedral on a horse-drawn carriage.

According her with full military honors, members of the three branches of the armed forces of Britain escorted the country’s first woman Prime Minister on her final journey, with the Queen leading a congregation of 2,300 people from around the world. It was not a state funeral but it was almost as grand, comparable to the ceremony held in 2002 when the Queen Mother died.

A tumultuous reign

Lady Thatcher served the British parliament for 11 years, winning three consecutive elections from 1979 to 1990. She aimed to arrest post-war Britain’s decline by doing away with trade unions and sending the country’s national assets into private enterprises. She has the services sector and home ownership in Britain boosted. She was a champion of modernization and freedom, and while her decisions and promulgations still affect the country and are still being the subject of many debates, her political enemies saw them as the introduction of greed and destruction of communities. Lady Thatcher had been the subject of many controversies, gained many political opponents and twice the number of supporters in her years of service. She was the longest serving prime minister in the country’s 20th century political arena, and her service made quite an impact to the country and its people.

Beautiful and poignant ceremony

Although not officially called a state funeral like the one accorded to Sir Winston Churchill, the impression is still the same. The Queen attended the service, something she seldom does. The Tower of London honored her with a gun salute every minute. The bells of Big Ben were quiet and the bandsmen from the military played classical music by Chopin, Mendelssohn and Beethoven. Flags were flown at half-mast.

She wanted things to be simple. Her coffin was draped with the union flag. A wreath of white flowers was placed on top of her coffin. She wanted no eulogies. She even chose the hymns to be played years before.

Foreign dignitaries

Emissaries from 170 nations were present at the funeral service. Noted were the absence of Mikhail Gorbachev and the Ambassador of Argentina to Great Britain. Nancy Reagan was already too frail to fly to England, and there was no delegation from President Obama’s administration.

Her body was cremated late on Wednesday and will be placed next to her husband, Sir Denis Thatcher.