The twin children of Baroness Thatcher – Carol and Sir Mark Thatcher – “cannot bear to be in the same room” as each other following Ms Thatcher’s decision to auction off hundreds of her late mother’s belongings, The Mail on Sunday has reported.
A long-held sibling rivalry between Lady Thatcher’s children has escalated into a full-scale family feud with the planned sale of the former Prime Minister’s private possessions.
On 15 December, 183 of Lady Thatcher’s treasured items will be auctioned, with a further 233 sold online on 16 December.
The sale at the auctioneers Christie’s is expected to raise as much as £1m.
But this potential financial windfall has done nothing to promote family unity for the Thatcher children.
The 62-year-old twins were bequeathed many of their mother’s items following her death, aged 87, in 2013. Ms Thatcher, a journalist and former reality television star, also recently took advantage of the opportunity to buy a number of the official gifts Mrs Thatcher was given when she was Prime Minister, which had been held by the Cabinet Office.
Now Ms Thatcher has placed hundreds of these items in the hands of auctioneers and Sir Mark is reported to be “absolutely furious”.
A friend of the Thatcher family told The Mail on Sunday: “To say the family’s embarrassed by what she is doing is putting it mildly. The items are being auctioned, not by the family but exclusively by Carol and she alone will benefit from the proceeds.
“Mark is absolutely furious: he has chosen not to dispose of any of the items that their mother wanted them to have.” Among the items listed for auction are: an 18-carat gold Asprey clock shaped like a handbag, expected to reach £10,000, the prime ministerial red box used to carry her official papers and a 1930s Art Deco diamond and emerald necklace with an estimated value of £180,000.
However, the sale items which have caused the most controversy are the personal gifts given to both Lady Thatcher and her husband Sir Denis by friends and the collection of official papers and private notes, which it is felt should go to the Thatcher archive at Churchill College, Cambridge. Sir Mark’s anger at the sale is said to stem from his determination to protect his mother’s legacy.
One Tory grandee told The Mail on Sunday: “For once, Mark is on the side of the angels. His only concern is to protect his mother’s legacy and he thinks this sale is abhorrent.”
Relations between the Thatcher children have often been strained in the past with Ms Thatcher claiming she always played second fiddle to her elder twin, sparking feelings of jealousy. She once said: “I always felt I came second of the two. Unloved is not the right word but I never felt that I made the grade.”
The Independent was unable to contact Ms Thatcher or Sir Mark for comment.
