Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher dies at 87

Baroness Thatcher, Britain’s greatest post-war prime minister, has died at the age of 87 Photo: PA

Margaret Thatcher, Britain’s first female Prime Minister, is dead.

The Baroness passed away this morning, Monday April 8, 2013 following a stroke, The Telegraph reports. She was aged 87.

The former PM, who is reported to have suffered bouts of illness for many years, died peacefully.

Prime Minister David Cameron said in a statement: ‘It was with great sadness that l learned of Lady Thatcher’s death.

‘We’ve lost a great leader, a great Prime Minister and a great Briton‘.

Lord Bell, Thatcher’s spokesman said, ‘It is with great sadness that Mark and Carol Thatcher announced that their mother, Baroness Thatcher, died peacefully following a stroke this morning.

“A further statement will be made later’.

Baroness Thatcher was Britain’s first woman Prime Minister and the first leader to win three General Elections in a row. She governed Britain from 1979 to 1990.

She is survived by her two children. Her husband Sir Denis died in 2003.