Britain’s first woman Prime Minister Mrs. Margaret Hilda Thatcher died today 8th April 2013. She was 87.

Former Prime Minister Baroness Thatcher has died “peacefully”  after suffering a stroke while staying at the Ritz hotel in central London. Prime Minister David Cameron called her a “great Briton” and the Queen spoke of her sadness at the death.

Lady Thatcher was Conservative prime minister from 1979 to 1990.

She was of course the first woman to hold the role and for a record number of 11 and a half years, and was first elected to parliament in 1959, and she retired from being an MP in 1992.

She will not have a state funeral but will be accorded the same status as Princess Diana and the Queen Mother.  The ceremony, with full military honours, will take place at London’s St Paul’s Cathedral on Wednesday, 17th April 2013. Many roads in central London will be closed before and during the procession. The Union Jack flag above Number 10 Downing Street has been lowered to half-mast.