Margaret Thatcher memorial stamps from Falkland Islands

The Falkland Islands is to issue four postage stamps to mark the death of Lady Margaret Thatcher. The Falkland Islands, which celebrate Thatcher Day each year on 10 January, hold the former British Prime Minister in high regard after she sent the British military to repel an invasion of the Islands by Argentina in 1982.

Margaret Thatcher died on 8 April 2013 at the age of 87. She is to date is the first and only woman to have led a major political party in the UK and holding the office from 1979 to 1990, she served as British Prime Minister for the longest continuous period since Lord Liverpool in the early 19th century. She resigned as Prime Minister in November 1990 and left the House of Commons in 1992 at which time she was given a life peerage as Baroness Thatcher, of Kesteven in the County of Lincolnshire.

The four Falklands Islands stamps each represent a decade of Thatcher's political life:

• The 30p stamp depicts Prime Minister Thatcher and her late husband Sir Denis arriving at 10 Downing Street after becoming Britain’s first woman Prime Minister, 4 May 1979.
• The 75p stamp shows her inspecting a minefield in the Falkland Islands which she visited in 1983.
• The £1 stamp shows an image taken during her second visit to the Falkland Islands in 1992, on the occasion of the 10th Anniversary of Liberation.
• The £1.20p shows Lady Thatcher holding a Falkland Islands commemorative coin commemorating the 25th Anniversary of Liberation which she struck in 2007 at a special ceremony at the Pobjoy Mint.
• The First Day Cover envelope shows Lady Thatcher visiting the British Military Cemetery at San Carlos Bay.

Mike Summers, speaking on behalf of the Falklands Islands Legislative Assembly said of Margaret Thatcher: ''She will be forever remembered in the islands for her decisiveness in sending a taskforce to liberate our home following the Argentine invasion in 1982. Her friendship and support will be sorely missed, and we will always be thankful for all that she did for us.'

Margaret Thatcher stamp issue details:

• Designer: Andrew Robinson
• Printer: BDT International
• Size: 30.56x38mm
• Issue date: 16 May, 2013

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