Britain was printing invitations Thursday for 2,000 people for the funeral of Margaret Thatcher, ranging from all surviving US Presidents and British PMs to celebrities like Top Gear host Jeremy Clarkson.
But great figures from Thatcher’s Cold War era like former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, ex-German Chancellor Helmut Kohl and former US President Ronald Reagan’s widow Nancy will all be absent due to ill health.
Argentina, meanwhile, downplayed Britain’s decision to not invite Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner in a sign of the tensions that still exist between the two countries after the 1982 Falklands War, regarded by the Iron Lady herself as her finest hour.
Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip have already said they will attend Wednesday’s ceremonial funeral at St. Paul’s Cathedral — the first time the monarch will attend the funeral of one of her Prime Ministers since Winston Churchill in 1965.
Lady Thatcher died in London’s Ritz Hotel on Monday at the age of 87, after suffering a stroke.
Invitations to the funeral will be printed Thursday and start being dispatched on Friday, Prime Minister David Cameron’s Downing Street office said. “The guest list has been drawn up by Lady Thatcher’s family with the assistance of the government and the Conservative Party. It is expected over 2,000 invitations will be sent out.”
A representative of Nelson Mandela’s family is among those invited. Others include singing diva Shirley Bassey, composer Andrew Lloyd Webber and writers Frederick Forsyth and Jeffrey Archer. — AFP