The Funeral of Baroness Thatcher

Cathedral in London, where later this morning, the funeral service

for Lady Thatcher, Margaret Thatcher, British prime minister

from 1979 until 1990, will take place. There has been a considerable

number of people outside St Paul's. I was speaking to someone who

arrived at 3.30 AM to watch the ceremony that will take place, and

it is not a particularly nice day. It is cold and there has been

drizzle, but we hope the rain will hold off for the processions. Not

since the death of Winston Churchill nearly 50 years ago has the death of

a politician been marked on such a scale. It is not quite a state

funeral, but nevertheless a very grand affair, with full military

honours. Lady Thatcher's coffin will be born on the gun carriage drawn by

six black horses of the Kings Troop will house artillery -- King's Troop

Royal Horse Artillery before the entrance to the city of London up to

St Paul's, the streets on the route lined on either side by

representatives of the Armed Forces who fought in the Falklands. Inside

St Paul's, where members of the congregation are already arriving,

the doors opened at nine o'clock, apart from Lady Thatcher's immediate

family, there will be a host of people representing bits of her

life. There will be politicians from political parties, as it is, a

broad. From the United States, South Africa, the former president FW de

Klerk. There will be famous faces. And of course, there will be her

friends and the people who looked after her in recent years. And also

coming to the first politician's funeral since she came to Winston

Churchill's funeral, her Majesty the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh.

There is a very strong police presence here today. There are

policemen everywhere you look in this part of London. Of course, they

are no doubt expecting some protests as old adversaries have made their

views felt both in parliament and in the country at large since Lady

Thatcher's death. The battles of the 1980s have been rethought.

Inevitably, questions have been asked about whether Lady Thatcher

should have been awarded a funeral on this scale when most of her

predecessors were buried with modest ceremony. In Whitehall, there are

not any crowds at the moment, but there is a reason for that because

the journey of the coffin from Westminster to the point at Saint

Clement Danes where it is transferred to a gun carriage is

simply buy a funeral hearse, so there is not much for people to see.

Nevertheless, the police are heavily lining each side. Of course, the

justification that is given for this scale of funeral is that Margaret

Thatcher was the towering politician of her generation - the words of Ed

Miliband, the Labour leader. She was not only Britain's first woman prime

minister, she was the first prime minister since everyone had the vote

to be elected three times running. And she saw many changes. Her

reforms were bold and painful, sometimes, often bitterly resisted.

Controversial in life, and still controversial today in death. Lady

Thatcher's coffin lay overnight in the chapel of Saint Mary's

undercroft in the Palace of Westminster, where she fought so

many of her political battles. In just under an hour, it will be

brought from there by this hearse along the bottom of Parliament

Square and into Whitehall. It will past Downing Street, go past the

Treasury and those gates which Margaret Thatcher had installed here

because of the constant threat from IRA terror risen. No one will forget

her courage when the bomb exploded at the grand Hotel in Brighton. It

was after that that these gates were put up for security reasons. Then

she goes past the Ministry of defence on the other side of

Whitehall, where the Falklands conflict was run. And then up to

Trafalgar Square, where it turns right under the observant gaze of

Admiral Nelson and so into the Strand, past Charing Cross, until

she arrives at the royal air force church of Saint Clement Danes. Here,

her coffin will be transferred to the gun carriage and be accompanied

by a band and the wonderful sound of muffled drums. It will move at a

slow walk down Fleet Street to Ludgate Circus, up Ludgate Hill to

the steps of St Paul's Cathedral. We have 2-macro reporters this morning

watching events on the streets. Mishal Husain will be at Saint

Clement Danes, and Sophie Raworth is at the Palace of Westminster.

It is incredibly quiet at Westminster at the moment, it really

so in fact. Just a handful of people waiting by the barriers for the

moment when Baroness Thatcher's coffin leaves here for the last time

at ten o'clock this morning. The hearse carrying Baroness Thatcher's

body arrived here yesterday afternoon at three o'clock, the

coffin draped in a union flag. It was a low-key arrival for the woman

who dominated parliament for so many years. Her body was carried down

some steps into the chapel of Saint Mary undercroft, a small, Gothic,

beautiful chapel that dates back to the 14th century. There, her coffin

rested overnight. Beloved mother, always in our hearts, the message

from her children, the twins Mark and Carol Thatcher, who came here

for the service led by the Dean of Westminster. It was attended by

around 100 MPs, peers and staff from Parliament and Downing Street. Till

nine o'clock last night, the chapel remained open so that more MPs and

peers as well as Parliamentary staff could come and pay their last

respects. It was Margaret Thatcher's wish that she should

spend her last night here before the funeral at the price of Westminster,

as close to the House of Commons as she could be. At ten o'clock this

morning, she will leave here for the last time. She will be driven in the

hearse to the Strand, where my colleague Mishal Husain is now.

Saint Clement Danes is the Church of the royal air force, but today it

has a unique role to play, because it is here that the undertakers will

hand over to the Armed Forces and the coffin will continue its journey

as part of the ceremonial procession. When it arrives here, it

will be received by two chaplains, the Reverend David Osborne, the

chaplain of Saint Clement Danes, and the RAF Saint chaplain in chief. It

will be placed on stands that are already waiting in the nave, and

both chaplains will say prayers during the brief time that the

coffin is inside the church. After those prayers, the bearer party will

approach. This is a group of ten men chosen from across the armed

services who together represent regiments, units and ships that all

served in the Falklands. Among them, the Scots Guards, the Royal Marines

and the RAF. Leading that bearer party will be two brothers who are

Falklands veterans. In 1982, they were both on board the Sir Galahad

when it was attacked by Argentine forces and suffered terrible

losses. Today, they will be part of that bearer party that will carry

the coffin out here to the gun carriage that will by then be

waiting. Once the coffin is placed upon it, they will walk alongside

the gun carriage all the way to St Paul's Cathedral.

The doors of the cathedral behind me opened at nine o'clock exactly.

There was already a queue of people waiting with umbrellas up because

the rain had just started. People inside are looking for their seats.

Many of the more prominent guests are placed, others are fighting to

get a seat where they can properly see and hear. During this time, the

organ will start playing from now until the beginning of the service,

all the music chosen by Lady Thatcher apart from one piece by

Charles Stanford, who was Irish, by English composers. There is an

Englishness about this service that you will recognise as it takes

place. Under the great dome designed by Sir Christopher Wren, 365 feet

high, it is the place where Lady Thatcher's coffin will rest. And

near there, too small thrones to the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh. And

beside them, the prime minister and former prime ministers, members of

the cabinet, members of the Armed Forces, the Knights of the Garter,

many Foreign Minister's from nearly 200 countries, including American

secretaries of State. Henry Kissinger is coming. We think

Hillary Clinton might be here but we gather she is not. And then of

course, Lady Thatcher's family and close friends. And people who looked

after her. Her two grandchildren, Amanda and Michael, will be in the

procession, carrying her Order of Merit and her Order of the Garter.

Her granddaughter will read one of the lessons. The other is read by

the prime minister. Lady Thatcher had said whoever was prime minister

at the time, she would like it read by him or, I suppose, her. There

will be beautiful leaves some music from the quarrel St Paul's. There

will be bold and steering hymns for the congregation to join in. The new

Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, will give the blessing, his

first state occasion since his. The coffin will then be taken back from

here to the Royal Hospital, Chelsea, before going on to the crematorium.

Her ashes will be buried tomorrow in Chelsea, near the ashes of her

husband, Sir Denis. Before we leave the cathedral for a moment, if you

don't want to watch the procession to St Paul's and the other events

unfolding but just want to see what is going on inside the cathedral

without commentary, you can do so by pushing the red button and we will

say goodbye to you. Forever body else, here we are in the studio in

front of St Paul's. I have with me three guests, Shirley Williams,

former leader of the Liberal Democrats in the House of Lords, the

former Labour minister as well. It Hennessy, Professor of contemporary

history and for many years a political journalist. And Sir Terry

Wogan, lovely to see you here. Let's start with you. What brings you

here? I represent the hoi polloi element. The Irish element?Not

necessarily Irish, but just the players, I am afraid. And I am

privileged to be here. Seriously, what was it about Lady Thatcher that

brought you here? I can't claim that I knew her intimately, but I did

interview her on a long lost television show called Wogan. She

came on and conducted herself with great propriety. And afterwards, in

the hospitality suite, which we used to call hostility, she brought Denis

with her and Denis was downing the pink gins, as was his won't, and he

had had at least three or four. And she was keeping an eye on him and

she said, Denis, that is to you have had. We must be off. That was how I

knew her. When I was president of a charity for handicapped children,

she invited us. She came to a charity that I was president of and

out of the blue, I had asked her if she was free, and suddenly she said

she would come. And she made to refix and stayed an hour to talk.

She turned up the Children In Need, the only prime minister to do so.

Shirley Williams, this business of her husband, Sir Denis, who was

obviously very close to her, but let's look at her as a woman

politician. You are a woman politician and you know what it is

like in the House of Commons and House of Lords. What was so striking

about her? The first thing was that her domestic life was a very

precious, separate thing. I remember at least three occasions when I

talked to Margaret armour she was ironing at the same time. She was

very keen on ironing. There was something about the tidiness and

correctness of her life. But in a funny way, he was not particularly

interested in her politics, he was interested in her. He loved to watch

her act in the political world. she told him she was standing for

leader, he said, of what? That is a true story. He must have been

teasing. I am not sure. I think he kept a certain detachment. He kept

himself as her husband, and she always regarded him that way. She

was proud of making him breakfast as well as ironing the shirts. What

about the House of Commons? Why are we here? First of all because of the

extraordinary single-mindedness of her personality. Once zoomed her

from Grantham to number ten was this extraordinary commitment of her

energy and thought, where she was going and how she was going to get

there. That went with her through the whole of her life. Secondly,

something that has not been talked about a lot, which is that Margaret

Thatcher saw politics as being extremely serious. It was not a

subject for cartoons or jokes, it was of significance. And therefore,

unlike many male politicians who she regarded as playing games, she never

funeral like this since Winston Churchill. Or Wellington. Wherever

you stand on Margaret Thatcher and her policies, you have to recognise

this extraordinary force field she had around her. She had from the

very beginning. She was a primary colours politician who spoke in

caveat three sentences. Shirley and I were talking materialier, there

were no pastel shades. I was with Shirley, I was lucky as a young

journalist in the first weeks of 1975, when Shirley was a Minister,

and the Private Secretary brought in the news of who won the last

ballot, Willie Whitelaw or Margaret Thatcher to lead the Conservative

Party. Shirley said I hope it is Margaret but as a Labour politician

I hope it is Willie, as it will push my party to the left and

Willie Whitelaw won't, and Shirley, you were spot on. A primary colours

politician who disturbed all the atoms in the force field of

politics. A reminder about Lady Thatcher's career. Political

careers are always uncertain. Politicians, as Shirley Williams

knows well enough, are buffeted by fate. With hindsight these careers

may seem to have a kind of necessityability around them, but

for those -- a kind of inevitability around them, but for

some it is that which trips them up. Margaret Thatcher's rise through

the ranks to become Prime Minister was in exception. She had the luck,

but she also had the determination and nerve needed to get to the top

in a man's world where no woman, remember, had ever ventured before.

The incoming Thatcher Government tried to curb inflation, increasing

tax and interest rates. The economy went into recession, unemployment

rose and with it opposition to her policies. I have only one thing to

say - U-turn if you want to. The Lady's not for turning.

Thatcher's response to the Argentine invasion of the Falklands

8,000 miles away was decisive but risky, after a victorious 74-day

campaign Mrs Thatcher celebrated the triumph. Margaret Thatcher

returns to Downing Street with the biggest majority since 1945.

Her second term of office was marked by violence at home.

Violence on the miners' picket lines as they struck against pit

closures. Violence in Brighton when the IRA tried to kill her. Life

must go on as usual. Thatcher pressed on with plans to hand back

power from the state. Conservatives are returning power

to the people. That is the way to one nation, one people. On the

world stage she made common cause with President Reagan. We share so

many of the same goals, and a determination to achieve them. You

ain't seen nothing yet. Gorbachev's Russia too was

sympathetic to her message. It is wonderful to be entrusted with the

Government of this country, this great country, once again. But her

third term in office proved her downfall. An attempt to introduce a

universal local tax, the poll tax, led to rye not the streets, and

just as damaging -- riot in the streets, and just as damaging in

Cabinet was her new stridencey in Europe. It led to the resignation

of Geoffrey Howe and a challenge to her leadership from Michael

Heseltine. When she failed to win an outright majority of Tory MPs

her own Cabinet told her it was time to go. Ladies and gentlemen,

we are leaving Downing Street for the last time after 11-and-a-half

wonderful years and we are very happy that we leave the United

Kingdom in a very, very much better state than when we came here 11-

and-a-half years ago. One of the curious things about political life

is those cliches that we see again and again, the picture of Lady

Thatcher leaving Downing Street or the Lady's not for turning that in

the public mind, in our minds, seem to define the politician. In fact

of course political life isn't like that. Somebody was writing about

her the other day, she worked and worked and worked with an attention

focused on detail. Those public appearances were just things

dressed up either for her party conference or a speech and it

wasn't the real Lady Thatcher. We are joined now by Lord Forsyth, who

was a very junior Minister I think in her Government but you got to

know her in later years and when she was in the House of Lords. What

was your impression of her strength? Actually I first got to

know her with Keith Joseph and was involved in her leadership campaign.

In fact I think I won �50 on a 50p stake on her becoming the leader of

the Conservative Party. �50 on 50p? That's not bad. I got involved then

because the country seemed a complete disaster. She had this

optimism and a belief in Britain, that it could be turned around, at

a time when most people didn't. As a Minister of course you had to

work very hard. David Davis, I remember him shouting to me as I

ran across Central Lobby, "Rome wasn't built in a day" and I said,

"Well Margaret wasn't in charge of that job." She worked hard and that

was the standard. Is it a good, an essential characteristic? A lot of

senior politicians, a lot of Prime Ministers, aren't like that.

Everything you hear about her was focus on this, focus on that. Have

you done this, have you done that? Whereas you often get a much more

relaxed style, the way Macmillan handled it was completely different

He took it as a caricature, he was almost prostrate. He said I'm up

with the lark and I go to bed with the trollope. With moocher it

wasn't just like -- with Margaret Thatcher it wasn't just like I

might not make it, but with her Government you felt that the clock

was ticking. She said to a friend of mine in July 1979, he said you

had a busy year, I think you need a holiday. She said, "Bust I must

govern." She felt the need to govern." She felt if you had

tarpbgts you had to itz for the benefit of society as a whole.

it a disadvantage, did it lead to her downfall, the poll tax and her

party turning against her, because she couldn't see the wood for the

trees? I don't know that today's a day to talk about the politics of

it. I don't think it was her downfall. People think she was

dogmatic but every meeting started with one question: What are the

facts? She had a belief, a set of beliefs and convictions, but she

was preached to change according to the arguments -- prepared to change

according to the arguments. Her scientific training made her

determined to operate on the basis of facts. You do agree with that

Shirley? She was a much more pragmatic politician than people

think. She was called an ideologue, but she wasn't. She never tried to

privatise the NHS. She never turned back comprehensive schools. She

deeply believed that what had been embedded in the wishes and opinions

of the people were not for prime ministers to stand on their heads.

She was much more in tune with popular opinion than most people

have recognised. I think the other thing about her, she was always

keen even in her latter years, where she was suffering from her

illness, she always wanted to get things absolutely right and not let

people down. And so as her memory deteriorated, she found it very

difficult and quite frightening going to public engagements because

there was this worry she might say the wrong thing. But her sense of

duty drove her on. Let's go back inside the Cathedral, where it has

been open now for 40 minutes or so. There are various figures coming up

the aisle. We know that there are going to be senior politicians, her

Cabinet here, and many old friends. Betty Boothroyd, the former speaker

of the House of Commons. I think Michael Martin, another Speaker, is

going to be there. The present Speaker will be there as well.

George Osborne, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, arriving with his

wife. Inside on the left Cecil Parkinson. Leon Brittan on the

right. Both in her Cabinet. Ken Clarke coming up the stairs. The

only member of her Government who is still in Government in the

Cabinet. And they are going to the seats that are reserved, the

closest part under the Dome is where the VIPings so to speak, are

going. Sir Malcolm Rifkind, a former Defence Secretary and

Secretary of State for Scotland. Vince Cable, the Business Secretary,

in the coalition Government. Many Labour MPs have stayed away, but

some have come here. It is not being an entirely divided on

partisan lines. There are some Labour MP who is feel very strongly

that they shouldn't come, that it would be hypocritical to come, but

there are many others who acknowledge there's a difference

between the person and the politics. And that the politics can be set

aside for a day like this. All my gists here are going, apart from

Peter Hennessy, who is going to stay here, are staying. Matthew

Parris, the former Tory MP, worked very closely with Mrs Thatcher, and

Baroness Bottomley I should call you, who also worked in Mrs

Thatcher's Government. Virginia, what was your memory of her today

when you hear the eulogys and the Bishop of London and all, that

what's the Lady Thatcher thaw will remember? She did carve out the way

for women. There were 23 women went I went into the House of Commons.

We never thought we would have a woman Prime Minister. She was

remarkable. I think she invented political power dressing. I only

got selected in my constituency because I had my hair done like

hers and wore a suit with a bow. There was this extraordinary

confidence which I think we've been talking about came out of being a

scientist and a Methodist. She had clarity. Women are supposed to be

full of self-doubt and lacking in self-confidence. She had a vision.

When she said Prague is the centre of Europe, you felt she is right.

She brought in Eastern Europe and recognised that. She had this

wonderful clarity of speech, but to me I was always daunted by her I'm

afraid. Frightened of her?I'm afraid. So intimidated. Did you

argue with her? I never realised until much later she loved a good

argument and she wanted you to give as good as she got. I remember as a

junior Minister being summoned when she first offered me a ministerial

job. She said it was in environment. I said, "Prime Minister, I don't

know anything about it." She said, "Well you will just have to read up

on it won't you." An amazing woman, who changed politics for women.

Matthew, you worked with her as a very young man, answering her

letters and writing her speeches? was her correspondence clerk when

she was Leader of the Opposition. She was a very different person to

work for than to work with. She could be very difficult to work

with but as a boss she was marvellous. She was always in the

office before we were and she never left until after we had gone.

that marvellous? I thought it would've been nerve-racking for you.

She inspired us all with a sense of mission. It felt like a team, like

a platoon. Huge enthusiasm. Did she flirt with you? I always felt when

I interviewed her she was always very flirtatious, "Nice tie, David,

I will get one for Denis." always laid her hand on your wrist.

Oh, she deve did that! I told her I was going around the world to see

the Moon and the star from the top of the mountain and she said,

"Don't bother dear, you will go halfway around the world and I am

look at the Moon and the stars from halfway around the world, don't go,

dear, you can stay here and see the world from Spalding." It is in

Grantham, near from where she came. From we've been talking about the

commitment to ideas and the way she handled political ideas. Do you

think her focus, almost tunnel vision on particular projects and

problems which was her identifying characteristic, did that allow a

big view about Britain and Britain's place in if world? The

two things seem that they might be the blinkers sometimes stopped her

from seeing the little incidental things going on around the outside

and made her vulnerable. We will talk more later, but let's go down

to Westminster now and join Sophie Raworth.

The crowds have grown considerably in the last half-hour. A few hundred

people are now lining the streets, waiting for the moment at ten

o'clock when Baroness Thatcher's body leaves Westminster for the last

time. The funeral may be taking his a few miles away from here at St

Paul's, but the Palace of Westminster will still play its own

role today, because for the first time since the funeral of West --

Winston Churchill, Big Ben will be silenced. In fact, we have just

heard Big Ben chime for the last time this morning at 9.45. We will

not hear it again until one o'clock this afternoon. It was seen as a

tribute to the late prime minister. The only time Big Ben has been

silent since then was when it's needed repairing in the 70s. The

Speaker of the House of Commons, John Bercow, said he felt a profound

dignity could be expressed through silence. When the coffin leaves here

for the last time at ten o'clock this morning, it will be a poignant

moment for many. Margaret Thatcher arrived here as an MP in 1959. She

is about to leave here for the last time. She will be given a short

distance, a 15 Minute Drive to the Strand. Mishal Husain is there now.

The band of the Royal Marines has just gone past us here, and it is

here that the bearer party representing units from the

Falklands will take over and the ceremonial procession will begin.

With me outside Saint Clement Danes is one Falklands veteran, Major

General Jonathan Shaw. You were a young officer when Mrs Thatcher made

that key speech in Parliament that sent the task force to the South

Atlantic. How did you feel listening to her speak that they? It was an

extraordinary moment, because it came out of the blue. We all

gathered around our radio sets. Hearing her talk was spine tingling.

We realised this was Maggie's call to arms, and we had to respond. It

was sensational. And then this long journey began all the way south to

the Falklands. What did the leadership mean to you in those

weeks you spent travelling down that? When we set off, few of us

thought it would lead to war. It was only when we sailed from the

Ascension Island that we thought, crikey, this is serious. I was 24

and most blogs were younger than me. We had never been in battle

before. We were feeling of this Deeley resolve transmitted over the

radio and on the news broadcasts. Having that steely resolve behind us

gave us the support we needed. you ever get to meet her? Yes, I met

her a number of times. The most important one that sticks in the

brain was in 1997, 15 years on from the war, when she came to a reunion

in Aldershot. The boys just erupted in spontaneous applause and

sustained cheering. It was a celebration of a bond between us and

her. Today, the bearer party that we will see here have all been chosen

because they represent those who fought in the Falklands. What does

that mean to the veterans? It is fantastically emblematic of that

bond between the soldiers and her. It is a magnificent tribute to them

and I am grateful for it happening. Thank you very much.

Mishal, at Saint, Danes. And passing out of the picture here, the police.

They are bringing the gun carriage of Whitehall. The streets on either

side are now closed and access to them blocked. These black horses,

six of them, will pull the hearse. There is a charger in the front, a

huge horse called Mr twister. They known all their horses after

characters from novels. He is called Mr twister, but he is called Bert

more informally when in the stables. The splendid site of the horses.

Now, I am joined by somebody who used to write speeches for Lady

Thatcher, Michael Dobbs, who has since written all kinds of books and

in particular, once whose names escape me! I am delighted to hear

it. A copy will be in the post. have seen the movies. I was going to

say Queen of hearts! Tell me what it was like writing for her? I will say

the words house of cards later. Thank you. I wrote speeches for her

as leader of the opposition when she was still forming herself. She had

come from being a Finchley housewife, and was not yet the iron

Lady. It was an exhausting task. Everybody has been saying this

morning how focused she was. She would focus on a speech and go

through so mini different drafts because she wanted perfection. She

was not a great orator but she was a superb speechmaker and woodwork work

until the very early hours of the morning. She completely exhausted me

trying to keep up with her. You would be sitting until three o'clock

in the morning. She would be in her nightclothes and often her curlers.

Sorry to interrupt. Norman Tebbit has just arrived at St Paul's

Cathedral, one of her staunchest supporters down the years. The last

man in the trench when she eventually went. And there is FW de

Klerk, the former president of South Africa. It is set in the House of

Commons that Norman Tebbit felt he had left her to her friends, and

they betrayed her. He said the only thing he regretted was that he left

her to the mercy of her friends. I was chief of staff at that time. And

I believe I was probably the first person that Norman Tebbit told that

his priority was to take care of his wife, who had been so cruelly

injured in the bombing of the Grand Hotel. It was a terrible difficulty

for him to confront, but he had to. What did you mean when you said she

was not a great orator, but she was a great speechwriter's was she

strong on content, but not on delivery? "You turn if you want to.

The Lady's not for turning". Has gone down in history. There will be

many Tory party faithful who disagree with me and say they were

enraptured by her speeches. I think her speeches were better remembered

that the content, rather than the difficulties she sometimes had

delivering them. As a woman, she had so many mountains to climb, and one

of those was her voice and her ability to project it in a way which

men would find more natural. Matthew? She had the rhetorical

power of an electric drill. Sorry to interrupt - Ed Miliband is just

standing outside. We are keeping an eye on the people who come. The

leader of the opposition will be sitting in the front row. Nigel

Lawson, who was her chancellor of the exchequer. Whom she famously

told to get his hair cut when he became chancellor. And he never did.

Nigel Lawson is one of those who resigned, as Geoffrey Howe did as

Foreign Secretary. We think Geoffrey Howe will be here as well. And

behind the beginning of the ranks of the dramatic core. Sorry, Matthew,

go on. It was difficult to write jokes for her. She often did not get

them and did not deliver them very well. The dead parrot joke, for

example, she had never seen Monty Python. She was never satisfied.

would go on working on her speeches till the last minute. On one

occasion in Scotland, she left the hotel to go to the conference hall

to make the speech, and secretaries were still kneeling on the floor,

banging away at the typewriter, finishing off the last few pages.

She was once pacing up and down, about to make a speech, and her

speechwriter said, don't worry, piece of cake. She said, cake? I am

about to make a speech! So what other qualities? You made a living

after leaving politics by writing about it. What other qualities that

make her a politician deserving of what is happening here this

morning? I think this will be the last time we see an occasion. From

now, these occasions will be for senior royals only. There is a real

sense of the end of an era. Not only the passing of a lady, but the end

of that kind of politics. Chris Patten, who worked with her to win

elections and is now chairman of the BBC, with the spectacles on. Almost

all the men we have been pointing out here... John Major arriving, her

successor. She would have great fallings out with many men, and yet

they are still coming here to do her homage. Sir John Major, for

instance, said her behaviour to him over Europe was intolerable, but he

was also generous about her. gave him a very hard time. Tony

Blair is just arriving at the door, with cherie Blair. I wonder what she

would make of this. I can half a her saying, what is all this about? How

much did this cost, dear? It is interesting. She planned the funeral

service. The idea that it would be held in St Paul's Cathedral was not

hers, that came later. It was the content of the service that mattered

to her. The gun carriage and all that happened subsequently. If you

read the service, it is very interesting. This is the coffin

coming out from Westminster now, to be taken to the hearse at St Mary

who served the Queen Mother and Princess Diana's funeral. An old

family business. It is interesting, they were founded in Devon in 1789,

the same year as the French Revolution, and they have been

undertakers ever since. They are into their ninth generation. I was

talking to them at the rehearsal two days ago. They say their part in

this is not at all part of the ceremony. Their job is just to move

the coffin on here is discreetly and carefully as possible to the church

of Saint Clement Danes, where they will put on the gun carriage on the

silence. There are no crowds, no music, there is silence from Big Ben

because it is coming up to ten o'clock. Just the chaplains who

attend at Saint Mary's. The Dean of Westminster Abbey and one of their

members who sat all night with the coffin. Everywhere the body is

taken, the place that receives it holds prayers. The speaker's

chaplain, for instance, sat with the coffin all last night down here at

Westminster. And in Saint Clement Danes, as soon as the coffin is

brought in to be prepared for the gun carriage, there will be more

prayers. So wherever the body is, There's a police escort in front.

We expect at 10 o'clock, because the clock at St Paul's is still

striking, unlike Big Ben, they will set off. And there they go.

This whole event has had to be carefully timed, like all these

things, so they leave at exactly the moment they said, at ten

o'clock. No ceremony, just the hearse. Driving into Parliament

Square. Will it go past Winston Churchill's statue -- it will go

past Winston Churchill's statue. The white beyond building beyond is

the Treasury building, with which she did such battle to get control

of the economy when she came into office. Always tension between

Now coming up Whitehall. There are people here though they will only

see a brief glimpse. Crowds on both sides have come out.

APPLAUSE And you can see people applauding

and indeed hear them. So far no signs of the protests

that we had heard might happen, but pit does seem as though as the

police themselves said, there's a lower expectation of trouble than

they originally had. There was this event on Saturday in Trafalgar

Square where people gathered to protest, but here it seems to be

mainly a crowd just watching and aplauged her as she goes past.

-- applauding her as she goes past. Past the Women at War memorial, the

black plinth put up just beyond the Cenotaph for the work of women at

war. Perhaps suitable that she, who fought the Falklands war, against

much advice, and triumphed in it, should go past that memorial. The

hearse now comes up towards Trafalgar Square.

There it will turn into the Strand Under Nelson's Column and turning

This grey day here in London, and St Paul's, the Cathedral now

filling. The Archbishop of Canterbury arriving. John Sentamu,

the Archbishop of York, the two Archbishops arriving, very much

unrobed. Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London. Michael Portillo, who

served in her Government. He's left politics now. There are figures

from her administration. There are people who ran her Cabinet Office,

like Lord Armstrong, who is here. David Steel, Lord Owen. John Major

there talking to the Foreign Secretary, William Hague. Katherine

Jenkin is, the singer. One of a number of celebrity guests, like

Terry Wogan, who was in here. Tom King, who served as Secretary of

State in Northern Ireland, Lord King as he now is. Michael

Heseltine just arriving, coming up the steps. This is the view from

the Church of St Clement Danes. It is here that the real part of the

proessential, the ceremonial part of the proceedings begins, with the

route liners all the way up from here to St Paul's, made up of the

three services, and as always in military affairs starting with the

Royal Air Force, then the Army, the 1st Battalion Welsh Guards, who

fought in the Falklands war, and finally the Royal Navy and the

The street liners now already in place. Nine paces apart. They were

all out here on Monday for the rehearsal. The Church of St Clement

APPLAUSE More applause as the hearse arrives

The coffin will be met here by the Chaplain in Chief of the Royal Air

Force, the Venrablg Ray Pentland, and the Reverend David Osborne, who

is the residents chaplain here. -- the venerable Ray Pentland. The

purpose of this part of the ceremony is simply to remove the

coffin into the church, await the arrival of the gun carriage of the

King's Troop Royal Horse Artillery, and during that period say prayers

over the coffin. Then the coffin will be brought out, put on to the

gun carriage and will set off at this slow pace, with drums playing

and music, funeral marches by Beethoven and Mendelssohn and chop

inall the way up. The message from the -- and shop inall the way up.

The message from the children, "Beloved mother, always in our

We receive the body of our sister Margaret with confidence in God.

The giver of life. Who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead, grant,

Lord, that we who are baptised into the death of your son, our sav or,

Jesus Christ, may continually put to death our evil desires and be

buried with him, that through the grave and gate of death we may pass

to our joyful resurrection, through his her its, who died and was

buried and rose again for us, your son, Jesus Christ our Lord, amen.

I am the resurrection and the life, says the Lord. Those who believe in

me even though they die will live. And everyone who lives and believes

in me will never die. God, our father, by raising Christ your son

you destroyed the power of death and opened for us the way of

eternal life. As we remember before you this day our sister Margaret,

we ask your help for all who should gather in her memory. Grant us the

assurance of your presence and grace by the spirit you have given

us, through Jesus Christ our Lord, amen. Heavenly father you have not

made us for darkness and death, but for life with you forever. Without

you we have nothing to hope for, with you we have nothing to fear.

Speak to us now your words of eternal life. Lift us from anxiety

and guilt to the life and peace of your presence and set the glory of

your love before us through Jesus Christ our Lord, amen.

Almighty God, you judge us with infinite mercy and justice. We

rejoice in your promises of pardon joy and peace. To all those who

love you. In your mercy turn the darkness of death into did dawn of

new life. And the sorrow of parting into the joy of Heaven. Through our

saviour Jesus Christ who died, rose again and lives forever more, amen.

Margaret has fawn asleep in the peace of Christ, as we pause here

on her journey, when entrust her with faith and hope, in everlasting

life, to the love and mercy of our Father, and surround her with our

love and prayer. God of all consolation, whose son Jesus Christ

was moved to tears at the grave of Lazarus, his friend, look with

compassion on your children in their loss. Give to our trourled

hearts the light of hope and strength in us the gift of faith.

In Jesus Christ our Lord, amen. In a moment the bearer party will

come and we'll see that and take the coffin. I've been joined by the

Prime Minister, David Cameron, who of course is responsible for the

whole scale of this funeral today. Do you understand some people

thinking it is a bit over the top? This has been planned very

carefully with the family over very many years. There was a plan in

place even before I came Conservative leader at the end of

2005. I remember being told about the plans. I have always thought

they were fitting. They are in line with what the family wanted, with

what Margaret herself wanted. told that the military side, the

bands, all the glorious side we are seekers was your administration's,

your doing? There was a clear plan in place. My input was to make sure

it would be fitting and right. It's a ceremonial funeral, but with many

aspects of a state funeral, and that is right. She was our first

woman Prime Minister. She served longer than anyone in 150 years of

the job. Talking to foreign leaders, I think people will find it odd if

as a country we didn't properly commemorate and mark the passing of

this extraordinary woman. It is very fitting for someone who made

such an impact on our country and the world. Do you understand why

some people can't distinguish, the woman, the politician, from the

policies and say this is improper, because we are so opposed to the

policies? Of course, some people will take a different view about

what Margaret Thatcher achieved. I thought the Commons tribute showed

that even those who opposed her policies were perfectly capable of

saying this was a remarkable woman who impacted our history and

therefore it is right to mark her passing in this way. Just to be

clear, I did have conversations obviously with the leaders of the

Liberal Democrats, the leaders of think they recognised in spite of

the fact they disagreed with much of what she had done, she was an

extraordinary woman and it was right to mark her passing in this

way. Do you say there was an opinion poll - I don't like to

mention polls on a take like this - that said if a younger Thatcher was

leadering the Conservative Party you would win if next election and

be 8 points ahead now? It is not the day to talk about opinion polls

and as Margaret herself would say, there is only one poll that counts,

an easier job because of the circumstances around 1979, and that

politics has become in card with globalisation pressures? Do you feel

you can give the same kind of clear, focused leadership? I think she had

an incredibly tough time, because the circumstances in 1979 were

difficult. When I came to office in 2010, the scale of the deficit, some

of the circumstances are similar. The courage and right -- resolution

she showed an necessary again today. Do you get strength from her

example? I learned a huge amount from watching her as a teenager in

the 1980s. I was growing up when the big decisions were made about

deploying cruise missiles near where I lived in Newbury and the decisions

about trade union reform were formative influences on my political

development. You must not stay too long, because you have a duty to do

and a lesson to read. What will your thoughts be in the Cathedral?

Thinking about it now, obviously a great pride in all she achieved, but

tinged with a lots of sadness. It is at these sort of occasions when you

remember the woman, the person, the kindness she showed to people, and I

saw that as a junior researcher when I worked for her in 1988. I think

you think of the family and the person as well as the extraordinary

things she achieved. Kind of you to come in. Let's go back to St Clement

the bearer party. Mishal was saying earlier about the members of the

bearer party, who come from the Royal Navy and the Royal Artillery.

May the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit be among us for ever more.

on the floor for various squadrons of the Royal Air Force. We can't see

them clearly. This place was completely destroyed in the second

World War, there are the inlaid slates. And all around the walls,

there are books which record the name of every airman killed since

way back -1912, I think. They are now standing in silence and we are

awaiting the arrival of the bearer party. I was just saying about the

bearer party that they are from various regiments. The Welsh Guards

play a big part. The garrison sergeant major, Bill Mott, a tall,

powerful figure who was in the Falklands, and his brother, who is

in the Welsh Guards, major Mott. The two of them take part in this

ceremonial. The gun carriage dates back to the first World War, or

rather the gun does, from 1914. It is a small gun, 13 lbs, because it

was used alongside the cavalry, so it had to be light and fast.

Normally, these guns are seen with their horses at full gallop on

display in Hyde Park and other displays. But the horses that are

pulling the gun carriage today are six black horses, with one rider for

each pair. They have been trained for the last couple of weeks to take

things easy, because the last thing they want is for them to go off at a

great bolt. They have to walk steadily. It is difficult, walking

at sudden tree bases. -- at sedentary paces. It is harder for a

horse to walk at that pace and pull be leading this procession. Their

drums are muffled and draped, and they are under the command of

another officer who served in the Falklands War, Colonel Hugh

Bonington. He and two Mott brothers were all aboard Sir Galahad, which

was sunk in the Falklands. 48 people were killed. So this military

element is very important and the stress on the Falklands War is

clearly part of the ceremony we are seeing. Back here at St Paul's, sand

has been laid out for the gun carriage to arrive. The prime

minister, who was with us a moment ago, and his wife, going to take his

place. Outside St Paul's, the guard of honour of the first Battalion of

the Welsh Guards. They will stay here and present Arms as various

figures arrive. And on either side of the steps, the Chelsea

Pensioners. The prime minister will be sitting at the side of the Queen

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at the very front of the minister, and the chancellor of the

Exchequer. Douglas Alexander. FW de Klerk once more, and his wife on his

right. He has been in London, talking about how it was wrong to

see Mrs Thatcher as against apartheid, she was just against

sanctions against apartheid. This is the view from the top of St Paul's

of the guard of honour. The first Battalion of the Welsh Guards, with

the Queens colour that was presented to them by the Queen just a few

years ago. The Chelsea Pensioners are lining this route. There are 16

of them. The oldest one is not a man, but a woman. They were allowed

in a few years back. Dorothy Hughes is 89 years old and used to meet

Lady Thatcher often. She used to go down to the Chelsea Hospital. She

has an infirmary named after her. She was a great supporter of the

Royal Hospital Chelsea and indeed asked people who wanted to

commemorate her to make heard he might be coming. Former

Secretary of State of the United States flew in this morning. The

bearer party are now in St Clement Danes. They are coming to take their

place beside the coffin. Under the command of major Mott and with Bill

Mott, his brother, the garrison sergeant major, making sure

everything works well. This has been carefully rehearsed. It is not easy.

Except for the fact that they are under the gaze of the world's eyes,

that is not difficult. The difficult part is carrying it up the 24 steps

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at the West door of St Paul's be carried through the West door of

the church. This whole operation is much harder than it looks, but it

does give a solemnity to the event. They take sideways steps. And of

course, when they are carrying the coffin, they can't go left, right,

left, right. You have to move your outside foot and then the inside. So

the orders they get are inside, outside, rather than left, right,

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seniority by service. They are also chosen by height so that they very

slightly parade the coffin. At the front, the Royal Navy and the Royal

Marines. Behind them, the Royal engineers and the fourth Regiment of

the Royal Artillery. One of them comes from Grantham, Lady

Thatcher's hometown. And then the third Battalion of the Paras and the

Scots Guards. And finally, a member of the Royal Gurkha Rifles and from

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The bearer party have their hats removed while they are carrying the

coffin. There is an order to remove hats and to replace hats, which

they've just done. The bear skin and the cap of the Royal Navy cap

and the Busby of the Royal Horse Artillery with the red plume. The

Busby traern bear scifpblt -- the Busby rather than the bear

scifpblt The timing of the depart ture from

here is at 10.33. That is so that the journey up to St Paul's, which

goes down Fleet Street to Ludgate Circus and up Ludgate Hill has been

timed at exactly 19 minutes. The coffin will then arrive at the West

Door of St Paul's at exactly the right moment. This setting off is

very difficult. They set off and the music is played by the bands,

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At stalk, the West Door, the Thatcher -- at St Paul's Cathedral,

the Thatcher family arrive, Sir Mark Thatcher, his wife Sarah.

Amanda and Michael Thatcher will be taking part in the service. Sir

Mark Thatcher, who took his title from his father, who was given the

bar net si. -- bar won't si. Marco Grass, the

partner of Carol Thatcher, Lady In the meantime the procession has

been going now for three minutes or so. On its way up past, it comes

into Fleet Street, goes past the Law Courts. Goes past the Bar of

the City of London, the entrance to the City of London. St Paul's

Cathedral being in the City of London, the Lord Mayor will be

greeting all the guests and the royal guests. There may be some

shouts as this cortege goes past the narrower parts of Fleet Street.

There may be some protests. They are not unexpected. Somebody said

that Lady Thatcher herself would be surprised if there weren't protests,

because she always liked an argument. Even in death she

wouldn't expect people just to come round to her views and behave as

The guard of the Royal Air Force on the left, standing at the present.

They reverse arms as well as stand at the present. As the coffin goes

past. They look down and there they go, back. This is the arms reverse

position as the coffin goes past. They go into their heads boud and

they will remain like that -- their heads bowed, and they will remain

like that. It's a difficult position to hold. I was talking to

one of the officers who had to do this. It is very easy to lose your

orientation and get dizzy when you are look down at your feet. Very

big crowds here on the way up to St Paul's. Peel filling the side

streets. There was somebody here at 3 o'clock in the morning.

Interestingly, quite a lot of young people in the crowds. Not people

who knew Margaret Thatcher when she was Prime Minister. They have come

here to mark this occasion, whether it is this very majestic ceremonial

that's attracted them or the ideas that Margaret Thatcher had, or

maybe it is just the notion of being part of a big national event

which everybody's heard about. But the crowds are rather larger I

think than people had expected. Now the route is lined by the 1st

Battalion Welsh Guards. This part of the procession is dominated by

the Welsh Guards really. What with Bill Mott, the garrison Sergeant

Major, he is in charge of all the ceremonial, and his brother,. Major

Mott behind. So far there've been no disturbances. The crowds on

either side have been applauding. Behind, another detachment, the

Scots Guards, role engineers, the Royal Artillery, Royal Navy, Welsh

Guards, and what's called the escort party who march behind the

coffin, to close off the rear, so to speak, of the procession. The

Royal Marine band from Portsmouth moving seamlessly from one funeral

march to another. The Royal Marine bands were also incidentally in the

Falklands, so there is a pattern and a sense to all the decisions

hear it, but while this procession is going on, every minute a gun is

being fired from the Tower of London, using guns, two of which

were used in the Falklands, but are Those of you who are of a military

disposition will know that this is not a slow march as such, but a

half-step, but is marching slowly. It is very difficult to keep this

pace. It is quite a long stride, 70 paces a minute. It is timed to

bring the procession to St Paul's at precisely 11 o'clock, in about a

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Outside St Paul's we are waiting for the imminent arrival of Her

Majesty the Queen. NATIONAL ANTHEM PLAYS

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Mayor of London, precedes the Queen, holding a special sword

called the mourning sword. It is only the second time it has been

used in 60 years. It was carried at Sir Winston Churchill's funeral. It

is a sword with a black handle. The Queen and Duke of Edinburgh are

coming into this Great West Door, only open for ceremonial occasions,

giving us this wonderful view from the centre of the Cathedral down the

of St Paul's. And her presence here has been noted. She was a guest at

Lady Thatcher's 80th birthday party. And she herself decided, it is said,

to come here. The Archbishop of Canterbury was the last to greet

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precedes the Queen. This is the Archbishop's Kaplan, the Archbishop

of Canterbury, the Bishop of London, who will be giving the

address. That is the Bishop of London, with the white mitre. And

this procession with the coffin comes up to St Paul's. This is

where, famously, the Duke of Wellington's verse could not get up

the hill. It was different in those days. The whole thing was held up.

The gun carriage is pulled by horses which are not Royal. Ever since

Queen Victoria's funeral, the bodies of heads of state are traditionally

pulled by the Royal Navy. There was apparently trouble coming into

Ludgate Circus, a bit back from where we are now, with things being

thrown at the horses, which has disturbed them. The horses are

trained for that kind of thing and over the last weeks or so have been

put through their paces, but if they are tossing their head a little and

are a little uneasy, it will be because of that. But the riders with

each pair of horses, their job is to keep them calm and steady and keep

them going. We don't know exactly what the noise was down there, but

something happened which has thrown, but flowers being strewn on

the road. And that may frighten the horses just as much. Remember, at

Princess Diana's funeral, flowers were thrown at the hearse. The Royal

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Marines band is just coming up the West door and the steps of St

Paul's Cathedral, where the guard of honour of the Welsh Guards stands

facing the cathedral. There is a statue of Queen Anne, who was

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sovereign when St Paul's was from St Paul's. The pensioners of

the Royal Hospital, standing at attention. And once again, the key

figure in this whole ceremonial, garrison sergeant major Bill Mott,

giving the orders. The bearer party for the coffin, hats removed, now

very gently lift the coffin of the gun carriage and will then carry it

up the West Steps. In the Cathedral, it will be at the end of a

procession, with the insignia borne by Michael Thatcher and under

Thatcher, preceding their grandmother. -- Michael Thatcher and

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chime and one softer time. One side With one minute to the service,

with precision the coffin arrives here at the West Door. On the left

is Amanda Thatcher, the 19-year-old granddaughter of Baroness Thatcher

and Michael Thatcher her brother, stand with the cushions which will

bear the insignia of the Order of the Garter and the Order of Merit.

They will be laid on the altar just in front of the kaufpblt

It is 11 o'clock. The congregation will stand. As the procession moves

through the Nave the choir will sing the Sentences with music by

William Croft, which are performed at many funerals and were performed

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here at St Paul's Cathedral for I know that my redeemer liveth, and

that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth. And though

after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see

God: Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not

another. We brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we

The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away: Blessed be the name of

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The coffin is now laid on a bier directly under the Dome of St

Paul's Cathedral, where it will lie during the service.

The bearer party leave and in a moment the service begins with the

Bidding, given by the The Very Reverend David Ison, who is the

We come to this Cathedral today Margaret Hilda Thatcher, to give

and to commend her into God's hands. We recall with great gratitude

her leadership of this nation, her courage, her steadfastness,

and her resolve to accomplish what she believed to be right for

the common good. We remember the values by which she lived,

her diligence, her courtesy,

and her personal concern for the wellbeing of individuals.

And as we remember, so we rejoice in the lifelong companionship

she enjoyed with Denis, and we pray for her family and friends

and for all who mourn her passing. We continue to pray for this nation,

giving thanks for its traditions of freedom, for the rule of law

and for parliamentary democracy, remembering the part we have played

in peace and conflict over many centuries

and in all parts of the world; praying for all today who suffer

and sorrow in sickness, poverty, oppression or despair, that in

harmony and truth we may seek to be channels of Christ's faith,

hope and compassion to all the world;

joining our prayers together as we say:

Our Father, who art in heaven hallowed be thy name

Thy kingdom come; thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven

Give us this day our daily bread

And forgive us our trespasses

As we forgive those who trespass against us

And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil

For thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory,

For ever and ever.

Amen.

# He who would valiant be 'Gainst all disaster

# Let him in constancy Follow the Master

# There's no discouragement

# Shall make him once relent

# His first avowed intent To be a pilgrim

# Who so beset him round With dismal stories

# Do but themselves confound His strength the more is

# No foes shall stay his might Though he with giants fight

# He will make good his right To be a pilgrim

# Since, Lord, thou dost defend us with thy Spirit

# We know we at the end Shall life inherit

# Then fancies flee away! I'll fear not what men say

# I'll labour night and day To be a pilgrim. #

Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord,

and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armour of God,

that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.

For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities,

against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world,

against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world,

against spiritual wickedness in high places.

Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God,

that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all,

to stand. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth,

and having on the breastplate of righteousness;

And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;

Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able

to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.

And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit,

which is the word of God:

Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit,

and watching thereunto with all perseverance

and supplication for all saints.

Thatcher's granddaughter, and now the

the anthem

the anthem hear

the anthem hear my

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# Hear my prayer, O Lord, # And let my crying

Let not your heart be troubled: ye In my Father's house are many

I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.

And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again

And receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.

And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know.

Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest,

and how can we know the way? Jesus saith unto him,

I am the way, the truth and the life:

No man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

# How lovely is thy dwelling place O Lord of Hosts!

# For my soul, it longeth Yea fainteth

# How lovely is thy dwelling place O Lord of Hosts!

# How lovely is thy dwelling place O Lord of Hosts!

# For my soul, it longeth Yea fainteth

# For my soul, it longeth Yea fainteth

# For the courts of the Lord;

# My soul and body crieth out Yea for the living God

# My soul and body crieth out Yea for the living God

# My soul and body crieth out Yea for the living God

# How lovely is thy dwelling place O Lord of Hosts!

# For my soul, it longeth Yea fainteth

# How lovely is thy dwelling place O Lord of Hosts!

# Blest are they that dwell within thy house

# Blest are they that dwell within thy house

# They praise thy name evermore

# They praise thy name evermore

# How lovely is thy dwelling place O Lord of Hosts!

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.

. She

. She became

today, the remains of the real Margaret Hilda Thatcher are here at

her funeral service. Lying here, she is one of us, subject to the common

destiny of all human beings. There is an important place for the

debating policies and legacy, assessing the impact of that core

decisions on the everyday lives of individuals and communities.

Parliament held a frank debate last week. But here and today, is neither

the time, nor the place. This, at Lady Thatcher's personal request, is

a funeral service, not a memorial service with the customary eulogies.

And at such a time, the parson should not aspire to the judgements

which are proper to the politician. Instead, this is a place fraud

Marines human compassion -- for ordinary human compassion of the

kind that is reconciling. It is also the place for the simple truths

which transcend political debate. And above all, it is a place for

hope. But it must be very difficult for those members of her family and

those closely associated with her to recognise the wife, the mother and

the grandmother in the mythological figure. Our hearts go out to Mark

and Carol and to their families, and also to those who cared for Lady

Thatcher with such devotion, especially in her later years. One

thing that everyone has noted is the courtesy and personal kindness which

she showed to those who works for other, as well as her capacity to

reach out to the young and often also to those who were not, in the

world eyes, important. The letter from a young boy early on in her

time as prime minister is a typical example. Nine-year-old David wrote

to say "last night, when we were saying prayers, my daddy said

everyone has done wrong things except Jesus. And I said, I don't

think you have done bad things, because you are the prime minister.

Am I right, or is my daddy?" The most remarkable thing is that the

prime minister replied, in her own hand in a very straightforward

letter which took the question seriously, and she said "however

good we try to be, we can never be as kind, gentle and wise as Jesus.

There will be times when we do or say something we wish we hadn't

done, and we shall be sorry and try not to do it again" . She was always

reaching out. She was trying to help, in characteristically uncoded

terms, I was one sitting next to her at some City function and in the

midst of disk grabbing how Friedrich Hayek's Road to serfdom had

influenced her thinking, she suddenly grasped my wrist and said

very emphatically, " don't touch the duck pate, Bishop" . It is very

fattening! She described her own religious upbringing in a lecture

she gave at a nearby church. She said, we often went to church twice

on a Sunday as well as on other occasions during the week. We were

taught always to make up our own minds and never take the easy way of

following the crowd. Her upbringing, of course, was in Methodism, to

which this country owes a huge debt. When it was time to challenge

the political and economic status quo in 19th-century Britain, it was

so often the Methodists who took the lead. The Tolpuddle martyrs, for

example, were led not by proto- Marxist but by Methodist lay

preachers. Today's first lesson describes the struggle with the

principalities and powers, and the perseverance in struggle and courage

to beware characteristic of Margaret Thatcher. In a setting like this, in

the presence of the leaders of nations and representatives of many

countries throughout the world, it is easy to evoke get -- it is easy

to forget the immense herbals she had to climb, beginning in the upper

floors of her father's grocer shop in Grantham, through Oxford as a

scientist and later as part of the team that invented Mr whippy ice

cream, she embarked upon a political career. By the time she entered

Parliament in 1959, she was part of a cohort of only 4% of women in the

House of Commons. She had experienced many rebuffs along the

way, often on the shortlist candidates, only to be disqualified

by prejudice against a woman and worse, a woman with children. But

she applied herself to her work with formidable energy and passion and

continued to reflect on how faith and politics related to one another.

In a lecture, she said that Christianity offers no easy

solutions to political and economic issues. It teaches us that we cannot

achieve a compassionate society simply by passing new laws and

appointing more staff to administer them. She was very aware that there

are prior dispositions which are needed to make market economics and

democratic institutions function well. The habits of truth telling,

neutral sympathy and the capacity to co- operate. And these decisions and

dispositions are incubated and given power by our relationships, in her

words, the basic ties of the family are at the heart of our society and

make the right choices and to achieve liberation from dependence,

whether material or psychological. This genuine independence is the

essential precondition for living in another way beyond ourselves,

the word Margaret Thatcher used at St Lawrence Jewry was

interdependence. She referred to the doctrine that we are all

members one of another, expressed in the context of church on earth

as the body of Christ. From this we learn our interdependence. As she

said, the great truth that we do not achieve happiness or salvation

in isolation from each other but as members of society. Her later

remark about their being no such thing as society has been

misunderstood and refers in her mind to some impersonal entity to

which we are tempted to surrender our independence. It is entirely

right that there was a reference to the lifelong companionship she

enjoyed with Denis. As we all know, the manner of her leaving office

was traumatic, but the loss of Denis was a grievous blow indeed.

And then there was a struggle with increasing deability from which she

has now been -- De Bild from which she's been liberated. The natural

cycle leads inevitably to decay but the dominant note of any Christian

funeral service, after the sorrow and the memories is hope. It is

almost as perplexing to identify the real me in life as it is in

death. The atoms that make up our bodies are changing all the time,

through wear and tear, eating and drinking. We are atomically

distinct from what we were when we were young. What you nights?

Margaret Roberts of Grantham with Baroness Thatcher of Kesteven. What

constitutes her identity? The complex pattern of memories,

aspirations and actions which make up a character were carried for a

time by the atoms of her body. But we believe they are also stored up

in the cloud of God's being. In faithful richs when two people live

together, they grow around one another. The one becomes a part of

the other. We are given the freedom to be ourselves and as human beings

to be drawn freely into an evercloser relationship with the

divine nature. Everything which has turned to love in our lives will be

stored up in the memory of God. Further there is the struggle for

freedom and independence. And then there is the self--giving and the

acceptance of interdependence. In the gospel passage read by the

Prime Minister Jesus says I am the way, the truth and the life, and

that I am is the voice of divine being. Jesus Christ doesn't bring

information or mere advice. But embodies the reality of divine love.

God so loved the world that he was generous. He didn't intervene from

the outside. He gave himself to us in the person of Jesus Christ, and

became one of us. What in the end makes our lives seem valuable?

After the storm and the stress have passed away and there is a great

calm. The questions most frequently asked at such a time concern us all.

How loving have I been? How faithful in personal relationships?

Have I discovered joy within myself? Or am I still looking for

it in externals, outside myself? Margaret Thatcher had a sense of

this which she expressed in her address to the General Assembly of

the Church of Scotland. She said, I leave you with the earnest hope

that may we all come nearer to that other country whose ways are ways

of gentleness and all her paths are peace. TS Eliot in the poem quoted

in the service sheet says, the communication of the dead is

tongued with fire beyond the language of the living. In this

Easter season death is revealed not as a full stop but as the way into

another dimension of life. As Elliot puts it, what we call the

beginning is often the end. And to make an end is to make a beginning.

The end is where we start from. Rest eternal grant unto her O Lord

and let light perpetual shine upon The address by the Bishop of London.

And now one of Lady Thatcher's favourite hymns. Love divine all

lovers had compelling. # Love Divine, all loves excelling

# Jesu, thou art all compassion Pure unbounded love thou art

# Visit us with thy salvation Enter every trembling heart

# Come, Almighty, to deliver Let us all thy life receive

# Suddenly return, and never Never more thy temples leave

# Thee we would be always blessing Serve thee as thy hosts above

# Pray, and praise thee without ceasing

# Glory in thy perfect love

# Finish then thy new creation Pure and spotless let us be

# Let us see thy great salvation Perfectly restored in thee

# Changed from glory into glory Till in heaven we take our place

# Till we cast our crowns before thee

# Lost in wonder Love, and praise! #

Let us pray.

Let us pray.

Man that is born of a woman hath but a short time to live,

and is full of misery.

He cometh up, and is cut down, like a flower;

He fleeth as it were a shadow, and never continueth in one stay.

In the midst of life we are in death:

Of whom may we seek for succour, but of thee, O Lord,

who for our sins art justly displeased?

Thou knowest, Lord, the secrets of our hearts;

Shut not thy merciful ears to our prayer; but spare us

Lord most holy, O God most mighty, O holy and merciful Saviour,

Thou most worthy Judge eternal, suffer us not, at our last hour,

for any pains of death, to fall from thee.

Like as a father pitieth his own children:

Even so is the Lord merciful unto them that fear him.

For he knoweth whereof we are made: he remembereth that we are but dust.

The days of man are but as grass:

For he flourisheth as a flower of the field.

For as soon as the wind goeth over it, it is gone:

And the place thereof shall know it no more.

But the merciful goodness of the Lord endureth

For ever and ever upon them that fear him:

And his righteousness upon children's children.

O merciful God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,

Who is the resurrection and the life;

In whom whosoever believeth shall live,

Though he die; and whosoever liveth, and believeth in him,

Shall not die eternally; Who also hath taught us,

By his holy Apostle Saint Paul, not to be sorry,

As men without hope, for them that sleep in him:

We meekly beseech thee, O Father, to raise us from the death of sin

when we shall depart this life,

We may rest in him, as our hope is this our sister doth;

and that, at the general Resurrection in the last day,

We may be found acceptable in thy sight; and receive that blessing,

which thy well-beloved Son shall then pronounce to all

That love and fear thee, saying,

Come, ye blessed children of my Father,

Receive the kingdom prepared for you from the beginning of the world.

Grant this we beseech thee, O merciful Father,

Through Jesus Christ, our Mediator and Redeemer.

Amen.

Almighty God, Father of all mercies and giver of all comfort:

Deal graciously, we pray thee, with those who mourn,

Deal graciously, we pray thee, with those who mourn,

that casting every care on thee,

they may know the consolation of thy love;

through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

O heavenly Father, who in thy Son Jesus Christ

has given us a true faith, and a sure hope: help us,

in the Communion of Saints, the forgiveness of sins,

and the resurrection to life everlasting,

and strengthen this faith and hope in us all the days of our life:

through the love of thy Son, Jesus Christ our Saviour.

Amen.

# In paradisum deducant te Angeli

# In tuo adventu suscipiant te martyres

# Et perducant te in civitatem sanctam Ierusalem

# Chorus angelorum te suscipiat

# Ierusalem

# Chorus angelorum te suscipiat

# Et cum Lazaro quondam paupere aeternam habeas requiem. #

Apology for the loss of subtitles for 43 seconds

I heard a voice from heaven, saying unto me,

write, from henceforth blessed are the dead which die in the Lord:

Even so, saith the Spirit; for they rest from their labours.

Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God,

be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen.

# I vow to thee, my country All earthly things above

# Entire and whole and perfect The service of my love

# The love that asks no question The love that stands the test

# That lays upon the altar the dearest and the best

# The love that never falters The love that pays the price

# The love that makes undaunted the final sacrifice

# And there's another country I've heard of long ago

# Most dear to them that love her Most great to them that know

# We may not count her armies We may not see her King

# Her fortress is a faithful heart Her pride is suffering

# And soul by soul and silently her shining bounds increase

# And her ways are ways of gentleness

# And all her paths are peace. #

Go forth upon thy journey from this world,

O Christian soul, in the name of the Father who created thee.

Go forth upon thy journey from this world, O Christian soul,

in the name of the Son who died to redeem thee.

Go forth upon thy journey from this world, O Christian soul,

Support us, O Lord, all the day long of this troublous life,

until the shadows lengthen and the evening comes,

the busy world is hushed, the fever o

Then, Lord, in your mercy grant us a safe lodging, a holy rest,

and peace at the last, through Christ our Lord. Amen.

and peace at the last, through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Now unto him that is able to keep us from falling,

and to present us faultless before the presence of his glory

with exceeding joy, to the only wise God our Saviour,

be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and for ever.

And the blessing of God Almighty,

the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit be with you

and remain with you this day and always. Amen.

The bearer party comes back up the aisle

aisle and

aisle and will

aisle and will process

aisle and will process again down the aisle. The insignia will be

born, too. This time, not by the two granddaughters of Lady Thatcher, but

their shoulders, the choir will sing the recessional, with music by

Apology for the loss of subtitles for 43 seconds

# Lord, now lettest thou # For mine eyes have seen

# To be a light to lighten the Gentiles

# To be a light to lighten the Gentiles

# And to be the glory of thy people Israel

# Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost