Maggie, a mother demeaned by her own daughter
CHRISTMAS has always been about mothers — the ones battling heroically in the kitchen; the ones lit up with joy to have their families around them; and the ones remembered only in our prayers.
So you can’t help but wonder what will be going through Carol Thatcher’s head this Christmas morning when she wakes, millions of pounds richer, having flogged her mother’s most treasured possessions.
Less than three years after Lady Thatcher’s death, Carol has cashed in on her legacy with a sale of Maggie memorabilia that has already netted £4.5 million.
Behind the scenes, there are reports of a bitter squabble with her brother Mark, who was apparently opposed to the sale. But he still put one item in the auction, and surely could have acted to prevent it if he’d felt minded to.
Instead, the twins laid low as bidders from around the world fought over their mother’s most intimate treasures.
It is testimony to Lady T’s enduring greatness that so many were willing to pay way over the estimates, with her red dispatch box commanding more than £240,000.
But oh what a shame the items were
THE Nobel Prize-winning scientist Tim Hunt is leaving for Japan, hounded out by a woman academic (who has been exposed for making false claims on her CV) after he made a silly joke about female scientists. To lose a man of his prodigious talent over such a petty issue makes the whole country a laughing stock in the eyes of the world.
not donated to a museum instead. and how unedifying that Carol was prepared to flog off her mother’s beloved wedding dress — sold to a stranger just days after what would have been Margaret and Denis’s 64th wedding anniversary.
My mother’s ivory satin wedding dress is still hanging in my wardrobe. No amount of money in the world would make me part with it; it will be kept in the family forever.
I realise that sometimes it must have been difficult being the children of our first woman prime minister. But Mark and Carol have profited from her greatness in differing ways.
In her lifetime, she only wanted the best for them. In death, she may forgive them for this glorified car boot sale. But we who admired her from near and far will never forget the day the Great Lady was so demeaned by her own flesh and blood.