So glad this went off without a hitch. Godspeed, Maggie. :*(
Here’s the telecast of the entire funeral for those who want to see it:
http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/ThatcherF
Here’s a description of what transpired:
The military were everywhere in London today—guarding the flag-draped casket, escorting the casket, carrying the casket, saluting the casket—featuring soldiers, sailors and airmen primarily from units involved in the Falklands War Thatcher successfully lead in 1982 to regain that British territory from Argentina.
Three military bands standing along the funeral route played martial music at subdued volume to match the somber occasion. Six black horses, their manes shorn, pulled the casket on a World War I gun carriage. The procession band, their drums draped in black, played the funeral marches of Chopin, Mendelssohn and Beethoven.
A ceremonial minute gun fired salutes from the Tower of London throughout the 20-minute procession. All government flags at home and abroad were flown at half-mast for 12 hours. There were no early signs of the threatened protests.
Prime Minister David Cameron read from the King James Bible her favorite verse John 14.1 beginning: “Let not your heart be troubled.”
The sonorous chimes of London’s iconic Big Ben clock were silenced throughout the procession and service.
There was, however, no traditional RAF flyover. The conservative Thatcher left word she would find that a waste of precious pounds.
Among the many dignitaries attending today’s service were former prime ministers John Major, Gordon Brown and Tony Blair along with Canadian leaders Stephen Harper and Brian Mulroney and several Middle Eastern leaders.
Cultural icons such as Michael Caine, David Frost, Richard Attenborough, Shirley Bassey, Michael Crawford and Andrew Lloyd-Webber also attended, as did 10 staff members from the Ritz Hotel as a symbol of appreciation for their care during Thatcher’s last weeks.
Henry Kissinger, Newt Gingrich and Dick Cheney attended as private U.S. citizens.
President Obama has created his own reputation as anti-British through serial snubs of its leaders and gifts.
Whether there’s a connection between his obvious feelings and Britain’s colonial rule of Kenya, the homeland of Obama’s absentee father, is really irrelevant. It’s shown Obama as a petty, parochial pol, hardly presidential.
The Democrat is often photographed with his feet atop the presidential desk, a gift from Britain decades ago made from the timbers of a British man-of-war.
You may recall on his first day in the Oval Office, Obama ordered the gift bust of Winston Churchill removed and returned to Britain. He famously gave Brown a gift of American movie DVD’s, which won’t play on British machines.
He’s declined to appear jointly with some Brits and generously gave the queen an iPod packed with recordings of his own speeches.
But Obama trumped himself this week by declining to send any representative of his administration to the funeral of free-market advocate Thatcher. The Chicago Democrat appointed instead two former secretaries of State in Republican administrations—James Baker and George Schultz—and a staffer from the embassy in London.