Portrait artist remembers painting fierce Mrs T

Portrait artist Lorna May Wadsworth was in her late twenties when Lady Thatcher sat for her five times in the summer of 2007 in her Belgravia home.

“At the end of our sittings she always expressed concern for how I was getting home,” recalls Wadsworth. “When I at last unveiled the finished painting to Lady Thatcher she studied it intently for what seemed like an age, and then turned to me. ‘It’s very fierce!’ she intoned in her unmistakable voice.

“‘Yes, Lady Thatcher,’ I replied, ‘but sometimes we ladies do have to be a little fierce to get our own way’.

“She thought for a moment, then nodded sagely ‘Very true’.”