Sir Mark Thatcher, 2nd Baronet (born 15 August 1953) is an English businessman. He is the son of Margaret Thatcher, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990, and Sir Denis Thatcher, 1st Baronet; his sister is Carol Thatcher.
His early career in business led to suggestions that he was benefiting from his mother's position, notably in relation to the Al-Yamamah arms deal. He left the UK in 1986, and has since lived in the United States, Switzerland, Monaco, South Africa, Gibraltar, Barbados, Guernsey, and Spain. In 2003, The Sunday Times estimated his wealth at £60 million, most of which was suggested to be in offshore accounts.
In 2005, he was convicted and given a four-year suspended prison sentence and fined in South Africa for funding the 2004 Equatorial Guinea coup attempt.
He has two children by his first wife, Diane Burgdorf. He married his second wife, Sarah-Jane Russell (née Clemence), in 2008. Following his father's death in 2003, he became Sir Mark Thatcher and succeeded to the Thatcher baronetcy, an hereditary title which had unusually been given to his father in 1990 (this being the only baronetcy created since 1964).
Early life
Thatcher and his twin sister, Carol, were born six weeks prematurely by caesarean section on 15 August 1953 at Queen Charlotte's and Chelsea Hospital in Hammersmith, London, the same year that their mother qualified as a barrister. Their early years were spent in Chelsea, London. Their mother was narrowly defeated in her bid to become the Conservative Party candidate in the 1955 Orpington by-election. She was first elected to Parliament at the 1959 general election. The children, aged six at the time, featured in her first television interview. He went on to study accountancy but failed his accountancy exams with Touche Ross on three occasions.
Having taken various short-term jobs Thatcher moved to Hong Kong, where he built up a network of business connections, particularly in the Middle East and in motor racing. In 1977, he set up Mark Thatcher Racing, which ran into financial difficulties. The Prime Minister insisted on paying £2,000 personally towards the cost of the search.
Before competing he said:
- "I've now raced in Le Mans and other things – this rally is no problem."
In 2004, Thatcher wrote about his experience:
- "I did absolutely no preparation. Nothing."
- "We must have hit something. ... We stopped. The others stopped too, took a note of where we were and went on. But the silly bastards – instead of telling everyone we were 25 miles east when they finished the section, they told them we were 25 miles west." In 1986 his mother again faced questions in the House of Commons, this time over her son's relationship with the Sultan of Brunei. He moved to Texas, where he worked for David Wickins of Lotus Cars and British Car Auctions and met his first wife in 1987. During this period he spent some time in Switzerland as a tax exile, until he was forced to leave after the Swiss authorities began to question his residency qualifications. In 2003, following the death of his father, he was allowed to use the title of 'Sir'<!--he had been "Honourable" since his mother's ennoblement in 1992--> due to his inheritance of the Thatcher baronetcy a year before he was arrested in South Africa in connection with the 2004 Equatorial Guinea coup attempt. He pleaded guilty to breaking anti-mercenary legislation in January 2005.
In 2016 historic documents relating to Thatcher and Oman, expected to be released under the 30-year rule, were retained by the Government. The Guardian noted that the decision was made by John Whittingdale, a former political secretary to Margaret Thatcher.
2004 Equatorial Guinea coup d'état attempt
Thatcher was arrested at his home in Constantia, Cape Town, South Africa, in August 2004 and was charged with contravening two sections of South Africa's Foreign Military Assistance Act, which bans South African residents from taking part in any foreign military activity. The charges related to possible funding and logistical assistance in relation to an attempted coup in Equatorial Guinea organized by Thatcher's friend, Simon Mann. He was released on 2 million rand bail.
On 24 November 2004, the Cape Town High Court upheld a subpoena from the South African Justice Ministry that required him to answer under oath questions from Equatorial Guinean authorities regarding the alleged coup attempt. He was due to face questioning on 25 November 2004, regarding offences under the South African Foreign Military Assistance Act; these proceedings were later postponed until 8 April 2005. Ultimately, following a process of plea bargaining, Thatcher pleaded guilty in January 2005 to breaking anti-mercenary legislation in South Africa by investing in an aircraft without taking proper investigations into what it would be used for, admitting in court that he had paid the money, but said he was under the impression it was to be invested in an air ambulance service to help impoverished Africans. The judge rejected this explanation and Thatcher was fined R3,000,000 and received a four-year suspended prison sentence. An advisor to Equatorial Guinea's President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo told the BBC's Focus on Africa television programme that: "We are confident that justice has been done", and did not indicate that the country would seek Thatcher's extradition.
During his trial in Equatorial Guinea in June 2008 Simon Mann said that Thatcher "was not just an investor, he came completely on board and became a part of the management team" of the coup plot. In 2024, Mann provided The Daily Telegraph with access to emails and unpublished memoirs providing additional information. On the 20th anniversary of the coup attempt, the newspaper published an article on the coup which states the emails "show that Sir Mark negotiated a profit-sharing arrangement".
Personal life
Thatcher moved to Dallas, Texas, in the mid-1980s, where he met his first wife, Diane Burgdorf (later wife of James Beckett.) They married 14 February 1987. Their first child was born in 1989, and their second child was born in 1993. In 1992, he became The Honourable Mark Thatcher when his mother was made a life peer. In 1996, he moved to South Africa following financial scandals in the United States.
His Monaco residency was not renewed as he was said to be on a list of "undesirables" who would not be allowed further residency and he was required to leave by mid-2006.
He was in Barbados when he received news of his mother's death. He returned to the UK to act as chief mourner at her funeral, which took place at St Paul's Cathedral, London, on 17 April 2013.
In 2019, he became a grandfather.
Titles and styles
Thatcher has been entitled to use the pre-nominal style "The Honourable" since the elevation of his mother to the peerage as a baroness in 1992; he shares this courtesy with his twin sister, Carol. Following the death of his father in 2003, he inherited the Thatcher baronetcy which had been awarded to his father in 1990, the first baronetcy created since 1964.