Thatcher's farewell to Reagan

With a tender hand and a heavy heart, Margaret Thatcher reaches to touch the coffin of Ronald Reagan, one of the greatest political friends she ever had.

It has been more than a decade since either of them was in power, but with one sad gesture, Baroness Thatcher showed that the bond which united the two world leaders throughout the Eighties never diminished with the passing of the years.

Lady Thatcher arrived in Washington yesterday and paid her last respects at the Capitol where the former US President - she described him as "one of my closest political and dearest friends" - is lying in state.

She recorded a seven-minute tribute to Mr Reagan last February. It will be delivered at his funeral tomorrow, when he will be the first President to receive a state funeral for more than 30 years. President Bush and his father, the former President, will also deliver eulogies.

Lady Thatcher, 78, will be among a small group which will then attend the private burial at the Reagan library in California at sunset.

Thousands of people defied intense heat and humidity to line the streets of Washington where Mr Reagan's body rode along Constitution Avenue to the Capitol, where it was to lie in state for 34 hours.

The ceremonies prompted a massive security operation and some streets were briefly evacuated yesterday, moments before Mr Reagan's coffin arrived. A private aircraft had strayed into an exclusion zone over Washington, but the all-clear was given minutes after the alert began.

The body of the nation's 40th president was carried slowly on a horse-drawn caisson, a traditional military wagon, followed by a riderless black horse, with a pair of the President's favourite boots turned backward in the stirrups, symbolising the death of a military leader.

Military jets swooped low and drums rolled as the procession proceeded along the mile-and-a half route. People lining the road applauded and cheered Mr Reagan's 82-year-old widow, Nancy, as she left her car to watch the coffin being placed on the military wagon. According to her

aides, Mrs Reagan has been deeply moved by the mourning. "It is unbelievable what I am seeing on TV," she said. "The outpouring of love for my husband is incredible."

A 21-gun salute was the sign for the coffin to be lifted from the caisson by an honour guard of eight officers and conveyed to the Capitol Rotunda.

As the casket passed Mrs Reagan on the steps of the building she stretched forward to touch it. Later, following a ceremony inside the Capitol, she ran her hand along the coffin. Mr Reagan's son Michael stepped forward and kissed it.

The ceremony was attended by dignitaries and officials including vice-president Dick Cheney and Secretary of State Colin Powell.

The coffin was placed on a catafalque of rough pine boards, nailed together and covered with black cloth, which was first used for Abraham Lincoln's funeral in

1865. The funeral will be attended by Tony Blair, the Prince of Wales and former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev.

Mr Reagan died on Saturday aged 93, surrounded by his wife, his daughter Patti Davis and other son Ron.