Margaret Thatcher’s funeral will have a Malvinas War theme, the British government announced today.
Personnel from the UK’s Army, Royal Navy and Royal Air Force currently serving on ships and in regiments and units which played a key role in the 1982 conflict will carry the former Prime Minister’s coffin into St Paul’s Cathedral for the service a week today.
The 10 personnel will be drawn from the Royal Marines, the Scots Guards, the Welsh Guards, the Parachute Regiment, the Royal Gurkha Rifles and the RAF. More than 700 armed servicemen and women will take part in the ceremonial funeral.
The move was agreed today at a meeting of the committee co-ordinating the arrangements for the funeral of Baroness Thatcher, who died on Monday aged 87. It includes a representative of her family.
Asked if Lady Thatcher had wanted the funeral of a “war leader”, the British Prime Minister’s official spokesman replied that there had been a significant military involvement in previous ceremonial funerals but added: “Clearly Lady Thatcher has a strong association with the armed forces.” He added: “Her family have been very much at the heart of the preparations.”
Number 10 said that the coffin bearer party would “include current service personal from ships, units and regiments notable for their service in the Falklands [Malvinas] campaign.”
The 1982 war, following Argentina’s recovery of the South Atlantic islands 12,800 kilometers away from Britain, transformed Lady Thatcher’s political fortunes and helped her secure a landslide victory at the 1983 general election.
Source: Buenos Aires Herald