Former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher has died after suffering a stroke. She was 87. The Conservative leader, known as the "Iron Lady" served as British head of government from 1979 to 1990.
Margaret Thatcher passed away on Monday following a stroke, according to her spokesman Lord Tim Bell. The former prime minister was 87 years old.
"It is with great sadness that Mark and Carol Thatcher announced that their mother Baroness Thatcher died peacefully following a stroke this morning," Lord Tim Bell said.
Prime Minister David Cameron and Queen Elizabeth II both expressed their condolences to her family.
"We've lost a great leader, a great prime minister and a great Briton," he said.
Cameron cut short his trip to Europe after learning of her death, according to his office.
A statement issued by Buckingham Palace said that the Queen was greatly saddened by the news.
The former prime minister is to receive a "ceremonial funeral" with military honors, according to Downing Street.
Thatcher was born in Grantham in 1925. Soon after completing a degree in chemistry at Somerville College in Oxford in 1947, she began a political career in the Conservative Party, where she eventually became known for shifting Britain's economic and foreign policy to the right.
In 1979, she became the United Kingdom's first woman prime minister, where she won three Consecutive elections.
kms/ccp (AFP, Reuters, dpa) dw de
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