The
funeral of Baroness Thatcher, the first female UK prime minister, will
be along the same lines as those of Diana, Princess of Wales, and the
Queen Mother.
She has been awarded a ceremonial funeral with military
honours which will take place on Wednesday, 17 April, at St Paul's
Cathedral in London.It will be the first time the Queen has attended the funeral of a British prime minister since that of Sir Winston Churchill in 1965.
Funeral route On the day before the funeral, Baroness Thatcher's coffin will be moved to the Chapel of St Mary Undercroft in the Palace of Westminster. There will be a short service for about 100 people led by the Dean of Westminster at 16:00 BST.
Downing Street says the service is not a public event and will be attended by family members and senior figures from the House of Commons and House of Lords. There will also be some seats for Westminster staff who knew or worked closely with Baroness Thatcher.
Continue reading the main story
Ceremonial funeral
- A step short of a state funeral, which is normally reserved for sovereigns
- Requires consent from the Queen
- There is visually little difference between ceremonial and state - the gun carriage during a state funeral is drawn by Royal Navy ratings rather than artillery horses
After the service MPs, peers and
parliamentary staff will be able to pay their respects. The Speaker's
Chaplain, the Rev Rose Hudson-Wilkin, will keep vigil in the Chapel
throughout the night.
On the day of the funeral itself, the coffin will travel by
hearse to the Church of St Clement Danes - the Central Church of the
Royal Air Force - on the Strand.The coffin will then be transferred to a gun carriage drawn by the King's Troop Royal Horse Artillery and taken in procession from St Clement Danes to St Paul's Cathedral. The route will be lined by military personnel from all three services.
Continue reading the main story The funeral route in one minute
The funeral procession will mean road closures along and around the route as well as disruption to public transport.
Key road closures in place from 07:00 BST on 17 April: Parliament Square, Whitehall, Trafalgar Square, The Stand, Aldwych, Fleet Street, Ludgate Hill, Blackfriars Bridge, Westminster Bridge, Waterloo Bridge (restricted access), Farringdon Road, Kingsway, Charing Cross Road, The Mall, Victoria Street, Millbank, St Pauls Churchyard, Cannon Street.
Key bus routes affected by diversions or cancellations from 6:00 BST:
1, 3, 4, 6, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13, 15, 17, 21, 23, 24, 25, 26, 29, 43, 45, 53, 59, 63, 68, 76, 87, 88, 91, 100, 133, 139, 141, 148, 159, 168, 171, 172, 176, 188, 211, 242, 243, 341, 381, 388, 453, 507, 521, C10.
Underground and trains:
All Tube, Docklands Light Railway and London Overground lines will be running as normal.
Barclays Cycle Hire ("Boris Bikes")
A number of Barclays Cycle Hire docking stations within the road closure area will be suspended all day.
Full travel details are available from Transport for London.
FW de Klerk, the last white president of South Africa, has been invited
Current and former world leaders close to Baroness Thatcher have been personally invited alongside about 200 official representatives from states, territories and international organisations.
Amongst those known to be attending are:
- The Queen and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh
- Former Prime Minister Tony Blair and his wife Cherie
- Former President of South Africa, FW de Klerk
- Former cabinet member, Lord Carrington
- Former Private Secretary to Lady Thatcher, Lord Powell of Bayswater KCMG OBE
- Dame Shirley Bassey
- Jeremy Clarkson
- Lord and Lady Lloyd Webber
- Lord and Lady Archer
- US politician Newt Gingrich
- Classical singer Katherine Jenkins
Those who were invited but unable to attend include Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and former First Lady of the US Nancy Reagan.
- Royal Navy and Royal Marines
- F Company Scots Guards
- 1st Battalion Welsh Guards
- Royal Air Force
Baroness Thatcher's funeral escort party
There will be 10 bearers - all members of the armed services - who will walk alongside the coffin.
Where possible, personnel will be chosen from ships, units and stations connected to those who served during the Falklands campaign.
The bearers will be taken from:
- Royal Navy/Royal Marines
- Scots Guards
- Welsh Guards
- Royal Artillery
- Royal Engineers
- Parachute Regiment
- Royal Gurkha Rifles
- Royal Air Force
Gun Salute The Honourable Artillery Company will fire a gun every minute, from Tower Wharf at the Tower of London, while the procession is taking place.
There will be no fly-past by the Royal Air Force. Baroness Thatcher requested that there shouldn't be one, reportedly concerned about the costs.
Eighteen more service personnel from the Royal Navy and Royal Marines, the Blues and Royals, Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment, and Royal Air Force will line the steps along with pensioners of the Royal Hospital Chelsea.
Inside St Paul's Cathedral The funeral service will be led by the Dean of St Paul's, The Very Reverend Dr David Ison. The Bishop of London Richard Chartres will give the sermon and the blessing will be given by the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby.
The Order of Service shows that there will be two readings - one by Lady Thatcher's 19-year-old granddaughter Amanda - and the second by Prime Minister David Cameron.
Downing Street said Lady Thatcher wanted the service to be "framed" by British music and it will include compositions by Henry Purcell, Edward Elgar and Ralph Vaughan Williams.
There will also be a selection of well-known hymns, including Charles Wesley's Love Divine, All Loves Excelling, reflecting the influence of Lady Thatcher's Methodist upbringing, as well as poems by Wordsworth and TS Eliot.
Lady Thatcher's family is meeting an unspecified amount of the expense, thought to cover transport, flowers and the cremation, with the government funding the rest, including security.
A 2013 House of Commons note on state funerals details some of the costs of the Queen Mother's ceremonial funeral in 2002.
Policing costs were £4.3m, of which £2.3m were opportunity costs (costs that would be incurred anyway if staff were assigned to other operations). The cost to the Ministry of Defence was much less at £301,000.
Baroness Thatcher 1925-2013
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Invitations to the funeral of Baroness Thatcher at St Paul's Cathedral on Wednesday 17 April are being sent out to around 2,000 people.
Thatcher funeral: Guest list
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Thatcher funeral: Procession route
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MPs and peers' tributes
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Obituary: Margaret Thatcher
Analysis of Thatcherism's legacy
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Supporters of Baroness Thatcher are planning to create a museum, library and educational centre as a permanent memorial to the former prime minister.
Thatcher memorial library planned
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How will history remember Thatcher?
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What is Thatcherism?
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How did Thatcher change UK?
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Thatcher’s sporting legacy
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