Editing Denis Thatcher (section)

== Marriages ==

Thatcher married twice, during wartime to Margot Kempson in 1942 (divorced in 1948),<ref name=theguardian/> and in 1951 to Margaret Roberts.<ref name=telegraph>{{cite news |title=Sir Denis Thatcher, Bt |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/politics-obituaries/1434154/Sir-Denis-Thatcher-Bt.html |access-date=27 March 2021 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |work=The Telegraph |date=27 Jun 2003 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100609143506/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/politics-obituaries/1434154/Sir-Denis-Thatcher-Bt.html |archive-date=2010-06-09}}</ref>

=== Margot Kempson ===
On 28 March 1942, Thatcher married Margaret Doris<ref name=telegraph/> "Margot" Kempson, the daughter of a businessman,{{sfn|Collins|2009}} at St Mary's Church in [[Monken Hadley]]. They met at an officers' dance at [[Grosvenor House]] the year before.{{sfn|Thatcher|1996|pp=49&ndash;50}}

Thatcher and his first wife never lived together.<ref name=theguardian/> Their married life became confined to snatched weekends and irregular leaves as Thatcher was often abroad during the war. When Thatcher returned to England after being demobilised in 1946, his wife told him she had met someone else and wanted a divorce.{{sfn|Thatcher|1996|p=51}}

Thatcher was so traumatised by the event that he completely refused to talk about his first marriage or the separation, even to his daughter, as she states in her 1996 biography of him.{{sfn|Thatcher|1996}}{{Page needed|date=March 2021}} Thatcher's two children found out about his first marriage only in 1976 (by which time, their mother had become [[Leader of the Opposition (United Kingdom)|Leader of the Opposition]]) and then only when the media revealed it.{{sfn|Thatcher|1996|pp=46&ndash;47}}

=== Margaret Thatcher ===

{{See also|Margaret Thatcher#Post-Oxford career: 1947–1951}}
[[File:Thatchers and Bushes at Chequers.jpg|thumb|upright|Denis and Margaret Thatcher with US vice president [[George H. W. Bush|George Bush]] and second lady [[Barbara Bush]] at [[Chequers]] in 1984]]
In February 1949, at a Paint Trades Federation function in [[Dartford]], he met Margaret Hilda Roberts, a [[chemist]] and newly selected [[parliamentary candidate]]. When she met Denis for the first time, she described him as "not a very attractive creature" and "very reserved but quite nice".<ref>{{cite web|title=A side of Margaret Thatcher we've never seen|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/margaret-thatcher/10006410/A-side-of-Margaret-Thatcher-weve-never-seen.html|first=Charles|last=Moore|author-link=Charles Moore, Baron Moore of Etchingham|work=The Telegraph|date=19 April 2013|access-date=25 July 2017}}</ref> They married on 13 December 1951, at [[Wesley's Chapel]] in [[City Road]], London; the Robertses were [[Methodist]]s. Margaret Thatcher was [[1975 Conservative Party leadership election|elected Leader of the Conservative Party]] in 1975. She went on to win the [[1979 United Kingdom general election|1979 general election]] to become the first female prime minister in British history. Denis became the first [[Spouse of the prime minister of the United Kingdom|husband of a British prime minister]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.number10.gov.uk/history-and-tour/margaret-thatcher-2/ |title=History of Baroness Margaret Thatcher |publisher=UK Government |access-date=31 July 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110805111356/http://www.number10.gov.uk/history-and-tour/margaret-thatcher-2/ |archive-date=2011-08-05 |url-status=}}</ref>

In 1953, they had twin children ([[Carol Thatcher|Carol]] and [[Mark Thatcher|Mark]]), who were born on 15 August at [[Queen Charlotte's and Chelsea Hospital]] in [[Hammersmith]], seven weeks premature.{{sfn|Cosgrave|1978|page=111}} Thatcher was watching the deciding Test of the [[1953 Ashes series#Fifth Test at The Oval|1953 Ashes series]] at the time of the twins' birth.{{sfn|Blundell|2013|page=13}}  They had watched the [[Coronation of Elizabeth II|Coronation]] earlier in the year from [[Parliament Square]].{{sfn|Thatcher|1995|p=78}}

Not long after the [[1964 United Kingdom general election|1964 general election]], Thatcher suffered a [[nervous breakdown]] which put a severe strain on his marriage.{{sfn|Cannadine|2017}}<ref>{{cite news |title=Margaret Thatcher: Sir Denis 'contemplated divorce' after he suffered a nervous breakdown in 1960s |last=Rayner |first=Gordon |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/margaret-thatcher/10011297/Margaret-Thatcher-Sir-Denis-contemplated-divorce-after-he-suffered-a-nervous-breakdown-in-1960s.html |work=The Telegraph |date=23 April 2013 |access-date=16 January 2017}}</ref> The breakdown was probably caused by the increasing pressure of running the family business, caring for his relatives, and his wife's preoccupation with her political career, which left him lonely and exhausted.{{sfn|Cannadine|2017}} Thatcher sailed to South Africa and stayed there for two months to recuperate.{{sfn|Cannadine|2017}} His wife's biographer [[David Cannadine]] described it as "the greatest crisis of their marriage", but immediately after, he recovered and returned home, he maintained a happy marriage for the rest of his life.{{sfn|Cannadine|2017}}

This second marriage for Thatcher led to the future prime minister being sometimes referred to as "Mrs Denis Thatcher" in such sources as [[Preselection|selection]] minutes,{{sfn|Ramsden|1996|page=117}} travel itineraries,<ref name=":0">{{harvnb|ps=.|Blundell|2008|pages={{pli|https://archive.org/details/margaretthatcher0000blun/page/59 |59}}{{closed access}}–60}}</ref> and society publications such as [[Queen (magazine)|''Queen'']], even after she was elected a [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Member of Parliament]].<ref name=":0" />{{sfn|Hodgkinson|1988|page=95}} As Margaret's political career progressed, she preferred to be known only as "Mrs Thatcher".

According to [[John Campbell (biographer)|John Campbell]], a biographer of his wife, "their marriage was more a partnership of mutual convenience than a romance",{{sfn|Campbell|2000|page=88}} quoting their daughter Carol in her biography of Denis:

{{quote|If marriage is either a takeover or a merger, then my parents enjoyed the latter. There was a great deal of common ground and a tacit [[wikt:laissez faire#Adjective|''laissez faire'']] agreement that they would get on with their own interests and activities. There was no possessiveness, nor any expectation that one partner's career should take precedence.{{sfn|Thatcher|1996|pages=91–92}} }}