Margaret Thatcher Funeral - Live Report - London at Stand-Still

Margaret Thatcher Funeral

Not less than two thousand people are outside St Paul's Cathedral, where the funeral of Margaret Thatcher will take place. They waiting patiently behind metal barriers with a heavy police presence. Britain holds a ceremonial funeral for its only female prime minister, the influential and divisive "Iron Lady". Flags will be at half mast from local time 8 am to 8 pm and thousands of people are already lining in streets of London for bidding farewell to their ex-leader, who died nine days ago, aged 87.   At least seven hundred soldiers, sailors and airmen in full ceremonial uniform will line the streets as Thatcher's coffin moves on a gun carriage towards St Paul's Cathedral, where the funeral will take place from 1000 GMT. Veterans of the 1982 Falklands conflict with Argentina are to walk behind her casket. British officials stepped up the security plan following Monday's deadly attack near the finish line of the Boston Marathon. The funeral will include a reading by the former prime minister's granddaughter, Amanda Thatcher, as well as a reading by current prime minister Cameron. The total cost for the funeral has been reported as over £10 million ($15 million).

Political Leaders on Margaret Thatcher Funeral

Family, friends and colleagues of Britain's first female prime minister were invited to the funeral, along with many politicians and foreign dignitaries. Queen Elizabeth II will lead more than 2,000 mourners at the cathedral, who will moreover include British Prime Minister David Cameron — who is also a person from Conservative Party of Thatcher. US political figures Dick Cheney and Henry Kissinger, and the prime ministers of Canada, Israel, Italy, Poland and Kuwait will be there along with them.

Margaret Thatcher - Reactions of People

Not everyone will be celebrating the legacy of Thatcher's 11 years in power: protesters have moreover turned out to decry the effects of her radical economic reforms. Some plan to turn their backs on her funeral cortege, while others are threatening to pelt her coffin with eggs, coal or milk. Carolann Henderson, a 57-year-old civil servant from Nottinghamshire in central England said "I received up at 4 o'clock this morning. "I admired Mrs Thatcher. I was a police officer in 1975 when we were very poorly paid. She allowed me as a single person to buy my own house, something I'd never ever have aspired to. "I've worked complex for everything I've got, which is what she wanted — we worked complex and she gave us the dream." See the live report at the following link http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iyuJW_M5cAXwJhnGq4FwXMYXmr_w?docId=CNG.6041b87ce338c0d55283ff79d8e7036d.221
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