Perfect English marriage: Margaret Hilda Roberts and Denis Thatcher

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

"She has Stalin's eyes, and the voice of Marilyn Monroe," François Mitterrand said about the first woman to become Prime Minister of Great Britain and held this position for three consecutive terms. Margaret Thatcher can rightfully be called the most powerful and controversial statesman of the 20th century. She was able to revive the British economy and maintain the country's image as a world power, fulfilling the promise made to her people in the elections in 1979: a great woman who remained faithful to her state and her only beloved man all her life.

Maggie Toothpick

Margaret Hilda Roberts was born into a grocer's family and grew up with her older sister Muriel. They lived above a grocery store, not far from the railroad. In the house of the future baroness there was neither warm water nor a ladies' room. But in this family, such harmony and love for children reigned that all difficulties went to the last plan.

Maggie's dad was ideal for the girl. Her father taught her not to be afraid of difficulties, to achieve set goals and not to make hasty decisions. Maybe that's why Margaret's credo in life became the phrase she once said: "Defeat? I don't recognize the meaning of this word."

At a young age, Maggie studied with honors, played the piano, was fond of swimming, race walking, field hockey and attended poetry lessons. For her subtle mind and sharp tongue, friends called the girl Toothpick. Strong character and the ability to defend her opinion were manifested in Meggie very early.

At the age of nine, when she received an award for first place in a school competition, the teacher inadvertently declared that the girl was lucky. Margaret replied: “No, I deserve it!”. Her father said: "Maggie is 99.5% ideal. The other half a percent is what she could have if she was even a little warmer."

Iron femininity

Margaret was dubbed the "iron lady" for her uncompromising political struggle. As a tough politician, in life she remained a gentle and fragile lady, whose weakness was her own husband. His love and support became the key to the achievements and victories of the future prime minister. In her youth, Maggie had too little time to communicate with men.

She considered dating a waste of time. But once she had a chance to feel all the pros and cons of first love. While studying at Oxford, Margaret fell in love with an aristocrat of a noble family. The young man was so excited about young Maggie that he was about to get married. But the boy's parents were strongly against the "unequal" union.

Margaret, with her usual composure, simply broke off the connection with her lover and decided to prove that she was a suitable wife for a man from high society. Perhaps a storm was raging in her soul, but the girl did not reveal her feelings. She always kept her feelings in her fist. Her tears were seen only once - when she left the post of Prime Minister of England in 1990.

Soon, there were no memories of the first love, however, some sarcasm towards the opposite sex appeared in Margaret's statements."When you want to discuss something - go to a man, when you really want to do - go to a woman." "Women are much better than men at saying no." "The rooster may be crowing well, but the hen does carry the eggs." But one statement determined the whole meaning of her future life.

Home should remain the center, not the edge of women's lives

Margaret has always been a conservative and Tory member. Once, after a council, where she spoke with her usual logic and enthusiasm, a very presentable man approached her and offered to give her a ride in his red Jaguar. To be honest, Margaret has long singled him out in the ranks of the Conservative Party.

It was Denis Thatcher, a former military man. He was attracted not so much by the ideas of the party as by this single-minded, sweet lady. He was 11 years older than her, wealthy, educated, smart and divorced. The young people turned out to have a lot in common - they needed a whole life to talk. It turned out that these are two halves of one whole.

After a while, Thatcher will say about his wife: “Being the prime minister is forever alone. In a way, it is supposed to be: it is impossible to rule from the crowd. However, around Denis I never felt loneliness. This is a real man. This is a spouse. comrade! The union of the spouses was perfect. Denis always consoled his wife in times of failure, supported her and was always a loyal and reliable support. Having the opportunity not to work and having sufficient funds, Margaret plunged into jurisprudence, making an old dream come true.

In May 1953, in her fifth month of pregnancy, she successfully passed the bar exam. Then at the end of the summer she gave birth to twins - Mark and Carol. How to name the children, the mother decided for herself, because she could not stand names that could be abbreviated: “We only wished that the names of the children were ordinary. We did not like these“sweet”nicknames. lady.

Back in the maternity hospital, Margaret applied to be admitted to the final exams and by the end of the year she was ready to develop her career. In 1979, Margaret Thatcher became Prime Minister of Great Britain. For eleven years in this position, she has received many prestigious state awards, including the Order of Merit and the title of Baroness from Queen Elizabeth II, and one of all prime ministers received a lifetime monument in Parliament.

In her autobiography, Margaret said that without the support of her husband, she would never have reached such heights. Many contemporaries, or maybe just ordinary people and envious people, said that it was a marriage of convenience. One party colleague Margaret once said: "She achieved unprecedented success as a politician, but lost as a mother."

Indeed, the "iron lady" had little time to raise children, but she assigned this responsibility to her nanny and her husband, who adequately coped with the task while Thatcher was putting things in order in the country. Denis Thatcher has always been a kind of backdrop for a successful and important wife and treated it with kind irony. Once he told reporters: "I am often asked the question: who in your union wears trousers? And I give the answer: I wear trousers! And I wash and iron them."

Margaret respected her husband infinitely. In an interview with the Daily Telegraph, she said: "If we do not have the opportunity to afford a housekeeper, I will have to quit my career tomorrow." In 2003, Margaret overtook the hardest blow in her life - her husband died of cancer. Since then, she began to show deep gaps in her memory. She survived Denis for ten years and, according to her will, was buried next to her husband in the cemetery of the military hospital in the Chelsea district of London.

BONUS

"A man can climb Everest for his own sake. But he will put the flag of his state on top," the "iron lady" used to say. She has conquered many peaks, so the story of her life, success and love will remain unforgettable.

And another married couple - Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles - waited for her happiness for 35 years.