Margaret Thatcher.

Margaret Hilda Roberts

Margaret Thatcher — Businessperson

Born 13 Oct 1925 Grantham, United Kingdom

Died 8 Apr 2013 Piccadilly, United Kingdom

Citizenship United Kingdom

Would Be 100 yr If Living

13 min read

Reading time

2,466

Words

Feb 28, 2026

Published

88

Film credits

16

Books

22

Awards

TL;DR

Margaret Thatcher became the first female Prime Minister of the United Kingdom in May 1979 and served for eleven and a half years. She won the Falklands War in 1982, cut income tax for top earners from 83% to 40%, and privatized state-owned industries. Her policies remain controversial, and she was forced to resign in 1990 following a party coup.

Identity & family.

KIN · 5

Names, aliases, and relatives of Margaret Thatcher — birth name, kin, and personal ties.

Birth Name Margaret Hilda Roberts

Nicknames The Iron Lady, Maggie

Aliases Rt. Hon. Margaret Thatcher M.P., Margaret Thatcher MP, Rt Hon Margaret Thatcher MP, The Prime Minister Mrs Margaret Thatcher, The Prime Minister, Baroness Thatcher, Lady Thatcher, Rt Hon Margaret Thatcher, Rt. Hon Margaret Thatcher, Rt. Hon. Margaret Thatcher

PARENTS: Beatrice Ethel Stephenson Alfred Roberts
SPOUSES: Denis Thatcher
CHILDREN: Mark Thatcher Carol Thatcher

At a glance.

STATS

Margaret Thatcher by the numbers — life, work, and family.

87 Years lived

88 Film credits

16 Books

22 Awards

1 Marriage

2 Children

Who was Margaret Thatcher?

BIOGRAPHY

Margaret Thatcher — early life, career, personal life, and legacy.

Early life

Margaret Hilda Roberts was born on October 13, 1925 in Grantham, Lincolnshire, the younger daughter of Alfred Roberts, a greengrocer and town leader, and Beatrice Ethel Stephenson. Her father taught her to never follow the crowd but to do what she thought was right. She attended Kesteven and Grantham Girls’ School and later studied chemistry at Somerville College, Oxford, from 1943 to 1947. After earning a degree in Chemistry, she shifted her focus to politics. She stood as a Conservative candidate in the 1950 and 1951 elections.

Career

Thatcher won a seat in Parliament for Finchley in 1959. In 1961 she took the post of Minister of Pensions, and in 1970 she became Minister for Education, where she earned the nickname Thatcher the Milk Snatcher for cutting free school milk. After the Conservative Party lost the 1974 elections, she defeated Edward Heath for the party leadership in 1975. She led the Conservatives to victory in the 1979 general election and took office as Prime Minister that May. Her first major triumph came in 1982 with the Falklands War, when British troops reclaimed the islands from Argentina. She cut direct taxes, privatized state industries, and reformed education, health and welfare systems. Her policies boosted some incomes but also caused high unemployment and social unrest. An internal party revolt forced her resignation in November 1990.

Personal life

She married Denis Thatcher in December 1951, and they had twin children, Mark and Carol. Denis worked as a businessman. Her father Alfred Roberts was a major influence. In later years, she suffered from dementia, first revealed by her daughter Carol in 2008. She died from a stroke on April 8, 2013 at the Ritz Hotel in London.

Legacy

Margaret Thatcher was the first female Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and the only 20th-century premier to win three consecutive terms. Her privatization and tax cuts reshaped British politics and economy. She allied closely with US President Ronald Reagan and worked with Mikhail Gorbachev to end the Cold War. She received many honors, including the Order of Merit, Presidential Medal of Freedom, and Order of the Garter. In 2014, a British stamp commemorated her. She remains a deeply divisive figure, referenced in songs such as Morrissey’s Margaret on the Guillotine and David Bowie’s ’87 and Cry. She is remembered as the Iron Lady who transformed Britain.

Filmography.

FILMS · 88

Browse the complete filmography of Margaret Thatcher — every film, TV show, and documentary credit, ranked by popularity.

TV

Wogan

1982
TV

Panorama

1953
TV

Dispatches

1987
TV

World in Action

1963
TV

History 101

2020
TV

40 Minutes

1981
TV

The Century of the Self

2002
TV

Lockerbie

2023
Movie

Brexit: the Uncivil War

2019
Movie

Blackadder: Back & Forth

1999
Movie

Iron Fists and Kung Fu Kicks

2019
Movie

Rise of the Footsoldier: Origins

2021
Movie

Kenny Dalglish

2025
TV

The Secret Rulers of the World

2001

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Awards & honors.

AWARDS · 22

Every award, honor, and recognition received by Margaret Thatcher — Grammys, hall-of-fame inductions, civic honors, lifetime achievements.

Order of Merit
Presidential Medal of Freedom
Order of the Garter
Fellow of the Royal Society
Order of the White Lion
Ronald Reagan Freedom Award
Grand Order of King Petar Krešimir IV
Dostyk Order of grade I
Order of Good Hope
Grand Cross of the Order of Vytautas the Great
Grand Order of King Dmitar Zvonimir
Fellow of the Royal Institute of Chemistry
honorary citizen of Zagreb
Clare Boothe Luce Award
honorary doctor of the Hofstra University
honorary doctor of the Bar-Ilan University
Financial Times Person of the Year
honorary citizen of Gdańsk
Order of the Precious Crown, 1st Class
Order of Saint John
Order of Vytautas the Great
Royal Order of Francis I

Bibliography.

BOOKS · 16

Margaret Thatcher's bibliography — every authored, edited, and co-written book, ranked by edition count.

Amazon

Path to Power

by Margaret Thatcher
Amazon

Statecraft

by Margaret Thatcher
Amazon

Margaret Thatcher

by Margaret Thatcher
Amazon

In Defence of Freedom

by Margaret Thatcher
Amazon

Speeches

by Margaret Thatcher
Amazon

The Path to Power

by Margaret Thatcher
Amazon

As I Said to Denis –

by Margaret Thatcher

Could not load more books.

Notable quotes.

QUOTES · 27

A wall of memorable lines from Margaret Thatcher — lyrics, interviews, and off-the-cuff remarks captured over a lifetime.

If You Want Something Said, Ask a Man. If You Want Something Done, Ask a Woman.
Capitalism Only Works by Spreading to More of the Population What Used to Be the Privileges of the Few.
Free Choice Is Ultimately What Life Is About.
Good Conservatives Always Pay Their Bills. Unlike Socialists, Who Just Run up Other People’s.
I Would Never Be Prepared to Give up Our Own Currency.
The Enemy Is Socialism and the Labour Party.
It Is Exciting to Have a Real Crisis on Your Hands, When You Have Spent Half Your Political Life Dealing with Humdrum Issues Like the Environment.
I Do Not Know Anyone Who Has Got to the Top Without Hard Work. That Is the Recipe. It Will Not Always Get You to the Top, but Should Get You Pretty Near.
No One Would Remember the Good Samaritan If He’d Only Had Good Intentions. He Had Money as Well.
I Am Profoundly Concerned About Unemployment. Human Dignity and Self Respect Are Undermined When Men and Women Are Condemned to Idleness.
To Those Waiting with Bated Breath for That Favourite Media Catchphrase, the U Turn, I Have Only One Thing to Say: You Turn If You Want To. the Lady’s Not for Turning.
I Think Sometimes the Prime Minister Should Be Intimidating. There’s Not Much Point in Being a Weak, Floppy Thing in the Chair.
The Russians Said That I Was an Iron Lady. They Were Right. Britain Needs an Iron Lady.
Being Powerful Is Like Being a Lady. If You Have to Tell People You Are, You Aren’t.
There Will Never Be Anybody Else so Compelling as Enoch Powell. He Had a Rare Combination of Qualities All Founded on an Unfaltering Belief in God, an Unshakable Loyalty to Family and Friends and an Unswerving Devotion to Our Country. He Was Magnetic. Listening to His Speeches Was an Unforgettable Privilege. He Was One of Those Rare People Who Made a Difference.
The Problem with Socialism Is That You Eventually Run Out of Other People’s Money.
If You Do Not Have Charge of Your Own Currency, You Do Not Have Charge of Your Own Freedom. the Idea That We Should Give up Our Own Currency Is Utterly Repugnant and I Do Not Think Many People Would Want to Give It Up. the Moment You Go to Europe It’s an Awful Thing, It’s a Spineless Thing.
If My Critics Saw Me Walking Over the Thames They Would Say It Was Because I Couldn’t Swim.
Our Party Is the Party of Equality of Opportunity.
I Am Happy That My Successor Will Carry on the Excellent Policies That in Fact Have Finished with the Decline of Socialism and Have Brought Great Prosperity to This Country, Which Have Raised Britain’s Standing in the World and in Fact Have Brought About a Truly Capital Owning Democracy.
Some Socialists Seem to Believe That People Should Be Numbers in a State Computer. We Believe They Should Be Individuals. We’re All Unequal. No One, Thank Heavens, Is Quite Like Anyone Else, However Much the Socialists May Pretend Otherwise. and We Believe That Everyone Has the Right to Be Unequal. but to Us, Every Human Being Is Equally Important. a Man’s Right to Work as He Will, to Spend What He Earns, to Own Property, to Have the State as Servant and Not as Master, They’re the Essence of a Free Economy and on That Freedom All Our Other Freedoms Depend.
I Firmly Believe in Law and Order and in Standing up for Authority, Otherwise We Should Have No Free Society.
My Policies Are Based Not on Some Economics Theory, but on Things I and Millions Like Me Were Brought up With: an Honest Day’s Work for an Honest Day’s Pay; Live Within Your Means; Put by a Nest Egg for a Rainy Day; Pay Your Bills on Time; Support the Police.
To Borrow and to Borrow and to Borrow Is Not Macbeth with a Heavy Cold. It Is Labour Party Policy.
My Mother Used to Say That Without Our Monarchy We Would Be Just Like . . . Belgium!
Nowadays There Really Is No Primary Poverty Left in This Country. in Western Countries We Are Left with the Problems Which Aren’t Poverty. All Right, There May Be Poverty Because People Don’t Know How to Budget, Don’t Know How to Spend Their Earnings, but Now You Are Left with the Really Hard Fundamental Character Personality Defect.
You May Have to Fight a Battle More Than Once to Win It.

Did you know?

FACTS · 32

Little-known facts about Margaret Thatcher — origins, oddities, and behind-the-scenes details from a public life.

The top income tax rate fell from 83% to 40% by 1988 under her government, more than halving the rate for top earners.
Coal mines closures were twice as high in the 1960s and 1970s under Harold Wilson, but Thatcher closed larger mines and ended the mining industry as a major UK industry.
Before entering politics she worked as a scientist, researching the chemistry of ice cream.
She was voted the 3rd worst Briton in Channel Four’s poll of the 100 Worst Britons, behind Tony Blair and model Jordan.
Despite disliking the BBC, she was an enthusiastic fan of the comedy series Yes Minister and recommended a CBE for its star Paul Eddington.
In August 2008, her daughter Carol revealed that Thatcher had been displaying symptoms of dementia for seven years.
David Bowie’s 1987 song ’87 and Cry was about Thatcherite England and the divide between government and ordinary people.
Sinead O’Connor’s song Black Boys on Mopeds mentions Thatcher.
She was the subject of critical songs by The Beat, Elvis Costello, The Exploited, and Morrissey, and was referenced in Pink Floyd’s The Final Cut and Mark Knopfler’s Why Aye Man.
She was the United Kingdom’s first female Prime Minister and the only one until Theresa May in 2016.
She was raised to the peerage in 1992, becoming Baroness Thatcher.
She was targeted for assassination by the IRA in 1984; a bomb exploded at the Grand Hotel in Brighton, killing five people, but she escaped unharmed.
She died at London’s Ritz Hotel.
She initially considered compensating Falkland Islanders after the Argentine invasion in 1982, rather than going to war.
In South Africa, a nectarine has been named after her.
Her likeness appeared on the sleeves of two Iron Maiden singles, and she met the band in 1981.
She was a descendant of Elizabeth Widville, Queen of England, through her first marriage.
She broke her right arm in a fall at her London home in June 2009 and underwent surgery.
She retired from the lecture circuit after several small strokes left her frail in 2004.
She was featured on a British commemorative stamp in 2014 as part of a set honoring Prime Ministers.
She agreed to give Hong Kong back to China in 1984, despite its perpetual cession to the UK in 1842.
According to Michael Portillo, she needed persuasion to adopt privatization, which did not appear in the 1979 manifesto and began in her second term.
She died on the same day as Annette Funicello, April 8, 2013.
She was the only 20th-century UK prime minister to win three consecutive terms, ousted by her own party two years before the next election.
Actress Glenda Jackson said Thatcher’s policies caused spiritual damage, prompting her to enter politics.
She inspired the Doctor Who villain Helen A in the 1988 story The Happiness Patrol.
She was a tax lawyer and research chemist before entering politics.
Her look-alike puppet appeared on the French show Les Guignols de l’info.
After the 1981 Toxteth riots, she refused to consider managed decline for Liverpool and sent Michael Heseltine as minister for Merseyside.
Her great-great-grandmother was Irish with the surname O’Sullivan.
She is the most recent UK Prime Minister to be older than the monarch.
She was educated at Huntingtower Road Primary School and Kesteven and Grantham Girls’ School.

You wanted to know.

FAQ · 29

Quick answers to the questions readers ask most about Margaret Thatcher.

When was Margaret Thatcher born?

Margaret Hilda Roberts was born on October 13, 1925 in Grantham, Lincolnshire, England, UK.
Where was Margaret Thatcher born?

She was born in Grantham, Lincolnshire, England, UK.
When did Margaret Thatcher die?

She died on April 8, 2013 at the Ritz Hotel in London.
How old was Margaret Thatcher when she died?

She was 87 years old at the time of her death.
Where did Margaret Thatcher die?

She died at the Ritz Hotel in Piccadilly, London, England, UK.
How did Margaret Thatcher die?

She died from a stroke on April 8, 2013.
What was Margaret Thatcher's birth name?

Her birth name was Margaret Hilda Roberts.
What nationality is Margaret Thatcher?

She was British, a citizen of the United Kingdom.
What language did Margaret Thatcher speak?

Her native language was English.
Who were Margaret Thatcher's parents?

Her parents were Alfred Roberts, a greengrocer and town leader, and Beatrice Ethel Stephenson.
Who was Margaret Thatcher married to?

She was married to Denis Thatcher from December 1951 until his death in 2003.
Did Margaret Thatcher have children?

Yes, she had twins: a son Mark Thatcher and a daughter Carol Thatcher, born in 1953.
Where did Margaret Thatcher go to school?

She attended Kesteven and Grantham Girls’ School, then studied chemistry at Somerville College, Oxford, and later trained as a tax lawyer at City Law School.
What awards did Margaret Thatcher win?

She received many honors, including the Order of Merit, Presidential Medal of Freedom, and Order of the Garter, among others.
How many awards did Margaret Thatcher win?

She received 22 major awards throughout her life, including national and international honors.
What is Margaret Thatcher best known for?

She is best known as Britain’s first female Prime Minister, serving from 1979 to 1990, and for leading the country in the Falklands War and implementing far-reaching privatization policies.
How tall was Margaret Thatcher?

She was 5 feet 5 inches 1.65 meters tall.
Why was Margaret Thatcher called 'The Iron Lady'?

She earned the nickname The Iron Lady for her uncompromising leadership and strong opposition to socialism, particularly during the Cold War.
What were Margaret Thatcher's official titles and aliases?

She was known as Rt. Hon. Margaret Thatcher M.P., Baroness Thatcher, and Lady Thatcher after her peerage, among other titles.
What did Margaret Thatcher study at Oxford?

She studied Chemistry at Somerville College, Oxford, earning a degree in 1947.
What was Margaret Thatcher's job before politics?

She worked as a research chemist and later as a tax lawyer before entering politics full-time.
How did Margaret Thatcher become Prime Minister?

She defeated Edward Heath for the Conservative Party leadership in 1975, then led the party to victory in the 1979 general election, becoming Prime Minister.
What was the Falklands War?

In 1982, Argentina invaded the Falkland Islands; Thatcher sent a British task force that reclaimed the islands, a victory that boosted her popularity.
What was Margaret Thatcher's relationship with Ronald Reagan?

She was a close political ally of US President Ronald Reagan, sharing tough foreign and defense policies that helped end the Cold War.
What was the Brighton hotel bombing?

In 1984, the IRA bombed the Grand Hotel in Brighton during the Conservative Party conference, targeting Thatcher. She escaped unharmed, but five people died.
Why did Margaret Thatcher resign?

She was forced to resign in November 1990 after a internal party coup triggered by opposition to the Poll Tax and her stance on European integration.
When did Margaret Thatcher become Baroness Thatcher?

She was granted a life peerage in 1992, taking the title Baroness Thatcher of Kesteven.
What health issues did Margaret Thatcher face later in life?

She suffered from dementia, revealed by her daughter Carol in 2008, and experienced several small strokes that led to her retirement from public speaking in 2004.
How is Margaret Thatcher remembered in popular culture?

She has been portrayed in films and TV series, such as The Crown and Thatcher: The Iron Lady starring Meryl Streep, and is referenced in songs by David Bowie, Morrissey, and others.

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Published on February 28, 2026

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