Cheers, jeers at Thatcher funeral
London – Margaret Thatcher was laid to rest today with prayers and ceremony, plus cheers and occasional jeers, as Britain paused to remember a leader who transformed the country – for the better according to many, but in some eyes for the worse.
Soaring hymns, biblical verse and fond remembrances echoed under the dome of St Paul’s Cathedral, as 2300 relatives, friends, colleagues and dignitaries attended a ceremonial funeral for Britain’s first female prime minister.
The Queen, current and former prime ministers and representatives from 170 countries were among the mourners packing the cathedral, where Bishop of London Richard Chartres spoke of the strong feelings Thatcher still evokes 23 years after leaving office.
‘‘ The storm of conflicting opinions centres on the Mrs Thatcher who became a symbolic figure – even an ‘ ism’,’’ he said.
‘‘ It must be very difficult for those members of her family and those closely associated with her to recognise the wife, the mother and the grandmother in the mythological figure.
‘‘ There is an important place for debating policies and legacy . . . but here and today is neither the time nor the place,’’ he added.
Security for the funeral – the largest in London for more than a decade – was tightened after bombings at the Boston Marathon on Tuesday killed three people and wounded more than 170.
More than 700 soldiers, sailors and air force personnel formed a ceremonial guard along the route taken by Thatcher’s coffin to the cathedral, and about 4000 police officers were on duty.
But while thousands of supporters and a smaller number of opponents traded shouts and arguments, there was no serious trouble. Police said there were no arrests, and the only items thrown at the cortege were flowers.
Before the service, Thatcher’s coffin was driven from the Houses of Parliament to the church of St Clement Danes, less than a kilometre from the cathedral, for prayers.
From there the coffin – draped in a Union flag and topped with white roses and a note from her children Mark and Carol reading: ‘‘ Beloved mother, always in our hearts’’ – was borne to the cathedral on a gun carriage drawn by six black horses.
Spectators lining the route broke into applause as the carriage passed by, escorted by young soldiers, sailors and airmen. A few demon- strators staged silent protests by turning their backs on Thatcher’s coffin, and one man held a banner declaring ‘‘ rest in shame’’.
Thatcher’s tenure coincided with – and influenced – the fall of the Berlin Wall and the ‘‘ Reagan revolution’’ in the United States. Former United States first lady Nancy Reagan and one- time Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, both invitees with close ties to Thatcher’s leadership, were kept away from the funeral by age. Argentinian ambassador Alicia Castro declined an invitation amid continuing acrimony over the 1982 Falklands War.
The ceremony was traditional, dignified and very British. Mourners entered to music by British composers, including Edward Elgar and Ralph Vaughan Williams, and the service featured hymns and readings chosen by Thatcher, who grew up as a grocer’s daughter in a hard- working Methodist household.
Afterwards, the crowd outside cheered and applauded as That- cher’s coffin was carried out to the half- muffled peal of the cathedral bells. The former prime minister will be cremated, in keeping with her wishes.
The woman nicknamed the Iron Lady brought major change to Britain during her 11- year tenure from 1979 to 1990, privatising state industries, deregulating the economy, and causing upheaval whose impact is still felt. She died on April 8 at the age of 87.
Thatcher was given a ceremonial funeral with military honours – not a state funeral, which requires a vote in Parliament – but proceedings that featured the same level of pomp afforded Princess Diana in 1997, and the Queen Mother in 2002.
That raised the ire of some Britons who believe her legacy is a socially and economically unequal nation.
‘‘ She divided the country,’’ said Glynn Jones, a taxi driver from Liverpool, a city devastated in Thatcher’s time by industrial decline. He said he had come to smoke a cigar, watch the procession and ‘‘ doublecheck that she is dead and it is not a con’’.
Protests were held in northern England mining towns devastated by the closure of Britain’s coal pits after a bitter strike while Thatcher was prime minister.
But in London, hundreds of people packed the area around the cathedral to say goodbye to a leader they admired.
‘‘ I came to commemorate the greatest hero of our modern age,’’ said Anthony Boutall, 25, clutching a blue rose.
‘‘ She took a nation on its knees and breathed new life into it.’’