Mark Thatcher, along his twin sister Carol, announced his famous politician mother’s death today. Margaret Thatcher, Britain’s first female Prime Minister, died of a stroke. Her son flew back to the UK to be at her bedside.
Sir Mark Thatcher, Second Baronet, son of First Baronet Sir Denis Thatcher and Baroness Thatcher, and twin brother of Carol Thatcher, was born on August 15, 1953. Mark and his sister Carol were born 6 weeks premature.
Sir Mark inherited his late father’s hereditary baronetcy in 2003. He left Harrow public school in 1971, did not go to university and failed his accountancy exams three times. He went through a series of short-term jobs which each lasted about a year.
He made headlines in his youth for having a playboy lifestyle, his involvement in motorsports and business associations. Also for his role in an attempted coup in Equatorial Guinea, for which he was fined R3,000,000 rand and received a four-year suspended jail sentence.
Businessman Mark Thatcher married Diane Burgdorf, daughter of the millionaire Texas car dealer Theodore C. Burgdorf, on February 14, 1987, in Queen’s Chapel of the Savoy, London, England. Reportedly the couple met at a party in Texas, Thatcher was living there as a representative of the luxury automotive company Lotus Cars. They have a son, Michael Thatcher (born on February 28, 1989), and a daughter, Amanda Margaret Thatcher (born in 1993). The family was living in South Africa.
The couple divorced on September 19, 2005. Reportedly, Mark had an affair with Sarah Jane, Lady Francis Russell, the ex-wife of Lord Francis Russell and the daughter of Terence J. Clemence. Diane confronted them in a California hotel in 1994.
52-year-old Diane later married sports card millionaire 61-year-old James Beckett in 2008,Mr. Beckett a father three daughters from a previous marriage, is one of the world’s leading authorities on sports memorabilia cards, which are licensed by American teams and can command five-figure prices at auctions.
Diane Beckett’s hubby a former university statistics professor turned what started as a hobby into a publishing empire, Beckett Media, issuing price guides considered essential by collectors. He sold the company in 2005 and started a charitable foundation that sets up networking seminars between church and business leader
Mr and Mark secretly married Sarah Jane, the Hon Lady Thatcher, in 2008. The 59-year-old has lived in the hills above the Costa del Sol town for a decade.
Mark Thatcher is also famous for his involvement in the lucrative Al-Yamamah arms deal with Saudi Arabia, is said by local sources to have various business dealings in Spain. He is regularly seen driving around the coast in his Porsche Turbo.
He has a career in motor racing, sponsored by British Car Auctions. He competed on the circuits in Sports 2000, Thundersports and eventually graduated to the European Touring Car Championship with semi-works BMWs.
In 1998, South African authorities investigated his firm for allegedly running loan shark operations, which allegedly offered unofficial small loans to police officers, military personnel and civil servants. There was an allegation of U.S. tax evasion, the criminal case was eventually dropped and settled out of court. The Sunday Times said Mark had a personal fortune of of £60 million, most of which is in offshore accounts.
Mark’s Titles:
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-Mark Thatcher Esq (15 August 1953 – 26 June 1992)-The Hon Mark Thatcher (26 June 1992 – 26 June 2003)-The Hon Sir Mark Thatcher, 2nd Bt (since 26 June 2003)