英国将为撒切尔举办最盛大政治葬礼

伦敦将于当地时间本周三（4月17日）在圣保罗大教堂为前首相撒切尔夫人举办半个世纪以来最盛大的政治葬礼。届时，撒切尔的灵柩会被安放在皇家乘骑炮兵部队的炮车上，按礼仪沿街列队行进，前往圣保罗大教堂，三军官兵将在街道两侧列队，目送殡葬队通过，公众可以沿街目送葬礼队伍。葬礼进行期间，伦敦大本钟将处于静音状态，这是自丘吉尔葬礼以来，大本钟首次静音。参加葬礼的2300多名宾客中包括11位各国在任首相，英国全体内阁成员，两位国家元首以及17位外交部长，不过前苏联领导人戈尔巴乔夫和前美国第一夫人南希•里根均无法出席葬礼。

此次葬礼花费约为1500万美元，不少反对党人士批评指出，撒切尔夫人作为一名生前争议很大的领导人，使用所有纳税人的钱来为其举行葬礼可能不妥；而其支持者则认为撒切尔做出的历史贡献足以让她配得上这样一个葬礼。她是英国首位也是唯一一位女首相，是20世纪在任时间最长的首相，曾经赢得过三次选举。撒切尔葬礼将会进行电视直播，期间会播放撒切尔夫人最喜欢的圣歌，其中包括20世纪早期著名的英国爱国歌曲《我宣誓向祖国效忠》。圣保罗大教堂有300年的历史，曾经为英国海军名将纳尔逊、威灵顿公爵及前首相丘吉尔举办过葬礼，查尔斯王子和已故戴安娜王妃的婚礼也在这里举行。

London will stage its biggest political funeral in almost half a century on Wednesday when Britain's governing elite join the Queen and global leaders to bid farewell to former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, better known as the "Iron Lady".

In an event comparable to that of Winston Churchill's funeral in 1965, Thatcher's coffin will be carried atop a horse-drawn gun carriage through streets lined with admirers, and some detractors, from parliament to the city's most famous cathedral.

The bells of London's iconic Big Ben clock tower will fall silent for the first time since Churchill's funeral and more than 700 men and women from Britain's armed forces will honor a woman who led them to victory in the 1982 Falklands War as foreign dignitaries from around 170 nations look on.

Thatcher, who ruled Britain from 1979 to 1990, died on April 8 after suffering a stroke.

In life, the woman the Soviets christened the "Iron Lady" divided the British public with her free-market policies which sometimes wrought wrenching change on communities. In death it is no different.

Polls have shown that many are unhappy that the estimated 10-million ($15 million) pound bill for the funeral is being picked up by the taxpayer, while some left-wing lawmakers say the pomp-filled funeral is excessive and amounts to a party political advert for her ruling Conservative party.

But her admirers, of which there are many in her party and in southern England, argue that her historical profile merits such a funeral. She was the country's first and only woman premier, was Britain's longest-serving prime minister of the 20th century, and won three general elections.

More than 2,300 mourners will attend including 11 serving prime ministers from around the world, the British government's entire cabinet, two heads of state and 17 foreign ministers.

But there will be notable absences. Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev is too frail to attend and Nancy Reagan, the widow of Thatcher's great U.S. ally Ronald Reagan, is also unable to come.

Thatcher struck up a close relationship with Reagan during the Cold War, backed the first President George Bush during the 1991 Gulf War, and was among the first to discover that Gorbachev was a man she could "do business with".

Draped in the red, white and blue British flag, Thatcher's coffin lay overnight in a 13th-century chapel in Britain's parliament, a forum she dominated for years.

The guest list for her funeral has prompted talk of diplomatic snubbing.

On Tuesday, a spokesman for Cameron denied the United States had snubbed Britain by not sending anyone senior from the administration of President Barack Obama.

"Absolutely not," the spokesman said.

Obama is sending George Shultz, a secretary of state for Republican President Ronald Reagan, and James Baker, who had a number of senior roles in both the Reagan and George H.W. Bush presidencies. No senior serving politicians are attending.

The spokesman also said the Argentine ambassador had refused an invitation to attend, a decision colored by worsening diplomatic tensions over the contested Falkland Islands.

Relations between the two countries remain strained after a 1982 war over the islands during which Thatcher ordered a task force to retake the contested South Atlantic archipelago after Argentine troops seized it by force.

'I VOW TO THEE MY COUNTRY'

The funeral will be covered live by Britain's biggest broadcasters. Mourners will hear her favorite hymns including the well-known early 20th century celebration of British patriotism "I vow to thee my country" and bid her farewell.

St Paul's, the 300-year-old cathedral where her funeral will take place, played host to the funerals of Nelson, the Duke of Wellington and Churchill as well as to the wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer. It also withstood two bomb strikes during the World War Two.

The abiding domestic images of her premiership will remain those of conflict: huge police confrontations with mass ranks of coalminers whose year-long strike failed to save their pits and communities; Thatcher riding a tank in a white headscarf; and flames rising above Trafalgar Square in the riots over the deeply unpopular "poll tax" which contributed to her downfall.

But even her critics concede that - for better or for ill - she transformed the face of Britain.

In 1979, when she came to power, Britain was in the grip of a long post-war decline with notoriously troubled labor relations, low productivity and was being outperformed by continental rivals France and Germany.

Data show she turned that around by boosting home ownership and the service industry, breaking the power of Britain's trade unions, and deregulating financial services.

But the price - growing inequality and the closure of large swathes of the country's industrial base - left parts of the country struggling to create new jobs and rebuild decimated communities, leaving a bitter taste which endures.

Some of her most extreme opponents have "celebrated" her passing, holding a poorly-attended "party" in central London on April 13. Cameron, who has found comparisons to Thatcher uncomfortable, has denounced such events as "distasteful".