Editing Margaret Thatcher (section)

====The Queen====

As prime minister, Thatcher met weekly with [[Queen Elizabeth&nbsp;II]] to discuss government business, and their relationship came under scrutiny.{{sfnmp|1a1=Reitan|1y=2003|1p=28|2a1=Seward|2y=2001|2p=154}} {{harvtxt|Campbell|2011a|page=464}} states:

{{blockquote|One question that continued to fascinate the public about the phenomenon of a woman Prime Minister was how she got on with the Queen. The answer is that their relations were punctiliously correct, but there was little love lost on either side. As two women of very similar age – Mrs Thatcher was six months older – occupying parallel positions at the top of the social pyramid, one the head of government, the other head of state, they were bound to be in some sense rivals. Mrs Thatcher's attitude to the Queen was ambivalent. On the one hand she had an almost mystical reverence for the institution of the monarchy [...] Yet at the same time she was trying to modernise the country and sweep away many of the values and practices which the monarchy perpetuated.}}

[[Michael Shea (diplomat)|Michael Shea]], the Queen's press secretary, in 1986 leaked stories of a deep rift to ''The Sunday Times''. He said that she felt Thatcher's policies were "uncaring, confrontational and socially divisive".{{sfnp|Pimlott|1996|pp=460–463, 484, 509–514}} Thatcher later wrote: "I always found the Queen's attitude towards the work of the Government absolutely correct [...] stories of clashes between 'two powerful women' were just too good not to make up."{{sfnp|Thatcher|1993|p=18}}