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In the fourth season of “The Crown” which will air on Netflix on November 15, one of the most interesting characters is expected to be that of Iron Lady. The newest entry in the cast of the popular series, Gillian Anderson, will play the intrepid newly elected Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, highlighting the intense atmosphere that prevailed in her encounters with Queen Elizabeth. And the script is not far from the truth.
Queen Elizabeth has been on the British throne since 1952. She is the longest-serving monarch in the history of the United Kingdom and the longest-lived queen in world history. During these seventy years he has worked with all the prime ministers of the country, some better and others much more difficult. Margaret Thatcher belongs to the second category. And she is the first woman to hold the position not only of leader of the Conservative Party but also Prime Minister of Great Britain.
The daughter of the grocer who starred in the country’s political scene from 1979 to 1990 and to whom the phrase “Retreat?” I don’t know this word ”, he was not an easy character. And Queen Elizabeth, initially at least, did not view a woman very favorably who “doesn’t say go away and talks too much.” “She has lived among men for a long time.”
Disagreements on hot topics
The two women of the same age, Margaret, born in October 1925, was five months older than Elizabeth, they seemed day and night. In the past, various Palace politicians, officials and people who had witnessed many intense moments between the two powerful women have spoken of a particularly difficult relationship. The Queen and the Prime Minister of Great Britain were two completely different characters with different experiences who had to work together through one of the most difficult phases of post-war England.
This is a moment of massive mobilization of miners who, defending their right to work against a prime minister who was closing mines, went on a one-year strike from March to March 1985. It was called the “unarmed civil war” because of the repeated violent clashes between the police and the strikers and the division that had occupied the country.
The queen did not like this. Which, while Thatcher urged the miners’ wives to come to their senses, expressed sympathy for fellow workers who actively supported their strike struggle. Another source of tension between them was the issue of sanctions against apartheid in North Africa: Thatcher was against, Elizabeth was in favor.
The witty Elizabeth had no chemistry with Margaret, who did not have the slightest sense of humor. The atmosphere was often cold and uncomfortable at their meetings. In the documentary “The Queen and Her Prime Ministers” (Amazon Prime, 2004), journalist Judy Wade reports that when Thatcher was once interested in finding out what Elizabeth was planning to wear to the event, they were both invited to dress accordingly. that the response she received from the Palace was: “Don’t worry, the Queen never cares what other women wear.”
In the same documentary, the former prime minister’s spokeswoman comments that Thatcher, who had deep respect for the monarchy, may have been more than accurate in her weekly auditions. “Whenever she had a meeting with the Queen, she always arrived a quarter early and every week the Queen would let her wait 15 minutes.” And according to what Anthony Samson, a well-connected journalist at the time, wrote in 1982, their relationship was very difficult because their roles were confusing. Thatcher was the one who behaved like a queen.
Cold relationships and a warm goodbye
On July 20, 1986, the Sunday Times ran an incredibly exclusive cover that revealed that the Queen was deeply in love with Margaret Thatcher, a hard-nosed man who was thirsty for confrontation and divided society in two. Of course, these were not words from Her Majesty but revelations from the Palace Press Secretary, Michael C. But it was the Queen who felt humiliated. He immediately called his prime minister to apologize and their relationship was saved. Margaret, usually intransigent, forgave her, but did not forget her. “These old ladies will say Thatcher is bothering the queen,” she told her adviser, concerned about the votes she might lose due to her British-sanctified Lilibeth.
The rigid conservative politician did not neglect to elevate the Queen to the media. And although he made impressively few references to Elizabeth in his multi-page memoirs, he made sure to write: “the stories of enmity between two powerful women were too good not to make up,” perhaps trying to erase in his own way all the distasteful that the two of them. They lived behind theoretically closed doors.
However, not all testimonials discourage the two iconic leaders. British playwright Moira Buffini, whose play “Handbaged” made headlines in 2013 for bringing their relationship to the stage, believes the Queen was a role model for Thatcher. “The hat, the gloves, the coats, it was all his ambition to look like the woman he admired,” he told The Guardian at the time.
And the truth is, they may never have become best friends, but over the years one grew closer to the other. “I think they finally found out and Thatcher took the queen’s advice very seriously,” commented BBC journalist Michael Cockerell in the Amazon documentary, while biographer Hugo Vickers described how Elizabeth was “very upset.” that Thatcher was removed from the prime minister and the leadership of her party. The highest honor was even reserved for her, awarding her the Battalion Member Medal just two weeks after her resignation.
Margaret Thatcher’s funeral in April 2013 was the first prime minister’s funeral that Queen Elizabeth attended since Winston Churchill’s death in 1965. As much as she felt and believed in Elizabeth’s prime minister, she couldn’t deny the fact that that Margaret Thatcher won three elections, broke the record of 11 years in office and transformed the political and economic landscape of the country. As a woman, she had nothing less to offer him than her sincere respect.
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