orig. Margaret Hilda Roberts
born Oct. 13, 1925, Grantham, Lincolnshire, Eng.
British politician and prime minister (1979–90).
She earned a degree from the University of Oxford, where she was one of the first woman presidents of the Oxford University Conservative Association, then worked as a research chemist. After her marriage to Denis Thatcher (1951), she read for the bar and specialized in tax law. She was elected to Parliament in 1959 and served as secretary of state for education and science (1970–74). As a member of the Conservative Party's newly energetic right wing, she succeeded Falkland Islands War . A split in party ranks over European monetary and political integration led to her resignation in 1990, by which time she had become Britain's longest continuously serving prime minister since 1827.
Margaret Thatcher, 1983.
AP/Wide World Photos