Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, was a British stateswoman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and leader of the Conservative Party. She was the first female Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and the first woman to lead a major British political party. Born on October 13, 1925, in Grantham, Lincolnshire, to Alfred Roberts, a grocer and Methodist preacher who later became mayor, and Beatrice Roberts, she grew up in a middle-class family influenced by her father's local politics and strong work ethic. Thatcher attended Kesteven and Grantham Girls' School before earning a scholarship to Somerville College, Oxford, where she studied chemistry and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in 1947. She worked briefly as a research chemist for BX Plastics and J. Lyons & Co., then trained as a barrister, qualifying in 1953. Entering politics in the 1950s, she contested several elections before winning the Finchley seat as a Conservative MP in 1959, marking the start of her parliamentary career.

Thatcher's rise in the Conservative Party culminated in her election as leader in 1975. She led the Conservatives to victory in the 1979 general election, becoming Prime Minister amid economic turmoil. Her administration implemented Thatcherism, a set of neoliberal policies emphasizing free markets, privatization of state industries, deregulation, and curbing trade union power. Key events included the 1982 Falklands War, which bolstered her popularity, and her firm stance against Soviet influence, earning her the nickname 'Iron Lady' from a Soviet newspaper in 1976. She won three consecutive elections but faced growing internal party dissent over issues like the community charge (poll tax) and European Union relations, leading to her resignation in November 1990. Post-premiership, she was created Baroness Thatcher of Kesteven in 1992 and continued to influence global politics through speeches and writings until her health declined.

Thatcher died on April 8, 2013, from a stroke in London, at age 87. Her legacy is deeply divisive: praised for economic revival and ending post-war consensus politics, but criticized for exacerbating social inequalities, deindustrialization, and conflicts like the 1984-1985 miners' strike. She married Denis Thatcher in 1951, with whom she had twins Carol and Mark; Denis died in 2003. Throughout her life, she remained a polarizing figure in British and international politics, symbolizing conservative transformation. She was known for her conservative policies and close ties to media influencers.