Margaret Thatcher’s funeral is to be held next Wednesday at St Paul’s Cathedral, it has been announced.
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It was also confirmed that the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh will attend the ceremony, which is expected to feature a procession through streets lined by military personel.
“It was agreed this morning at the Government coordination meeting with the Thatcher family and Buckingham Palace that the funeral service of Lady Thatcher will take place on Wednesday 17 April at St Paul’s Cathedral,” read the official statement on the funeral of Britain’s former Prime Minister, who died of a stroke yesterday, aged 87.
According to some reports, details of the day were mapped out five years ago and include a cortege parading from Whitehall onto Trafalgar Square and then down The Strand and up Ludgate Hill on the way to St Paul’s.
Officially, the event is to be known as a ‘ceremonial’ funeral instead of a ‘state’ funeral, which is usually reserved for royalty. Despite the pleas of her supporters, Thatcher herself didn’t want a state funeral, because she thought there would be mass protests.
“She had no doubt there would be some terrible demonstration,” said Thatcher’s friend Tim Bell, who visited her regally at The Ritz hotel, where she died.
“The funeral that has been arranged for her is the one that she asked for. It has been discussed for many years.”
Last night, hundreds of revellers partied on the streets of Brixton in celebration of Thatcher’s death.
Some chanted “Maggie, Maggie, Maggie – Dead! Dead! Dead!”, while others re-arranged the letters promoting films outside the Ritzy cinema to read “Margaret Thatchers dead”.
