Lady Thatcher's Funeral Procession 17.04.13

Baroness Thatcher was today granted the honour of a ceremonial funeral at St Paul's Cathedral in the presence of the Queen, Prime Minister David Cameron and dignitaries from all around the world. A coffin bearing the body of Britain's first female prime minister was carried in military procession through streets lined by thousands of mourners and members of all three armed services. Although the event was not the state funeral received by Sir Winston Churchill, it was conducted with more pomp and ceremony than any seen in London since the death of the Queen Mother in 2002. A gun carriage drawn by six black horses carried Lady Thatcher to St Paul's, where a congregation of more than 2,300 guests had gathered to pay their final respects. Earlier, the longest-serving prime minister of the 20th century left Parliament for the last time as a hearse took her body from the crypt chapel of St Mary Undercroft in the Palace of Westminster to the start of the military procession at St Clement Danes in The Strand. Lady Thatcher's coffin, draped in the Union flag, bore a large bouquet of white roses with a handwritten note from children Sir Mark and Carol Thatcher reading "Beloved Mother - Always in our Hearts". Prime Minister David Cameron said the funeral was a "fitting tribute" to a major national figure, and urged the Iron Lady's political opponents to show "respect" during the event. But protesters joined mourners lining the route of the procession, some of them voicing anger over the reported £10 million cost of the funeral. For more information visit www.bfbs.com/news/uk/lady-thatchers-funeral-procession-63321.html