Page 3 | To wonder why thatcher was at the ritz

Lockedout434 · 2013-04-09T06:38:28+00:00

I understood that she was very ill with alzimers and had been suffering since 2000 ish. Was she living there or had she been taken out by someone. Anyone any ideas?

Pigsmummy · 09/04/2013 10:25

After her long hospital stay it was decided that her and nursing staff would live in a rented apartment there rather than try to live back at home. I don't know who paid the bill and don't really care as long as it isn't the tax payer, I don't understand why people have issue with this to be honest?

There are apartments available there for rental, they are not at at the same tariff as the hotel nightly rates and the Ritz can use their own property for whoever they want can't they?

yousankmybattleship · 09/04/2013 10:31

Newbie - she got rich by marrying a millionnaire.

mummytime · 09/04/2013 10:39

But according to my neice, a lot of the news teams don't seem to know where she was as they are camped outside her house in Chester Square.

BTW didn't Elaine Striche live in the Ritz free of charge after she conned them, in exchange for publicity?

Snazzynewyear · 09/04/2013 10:42

The Guardian says the following today:

In January it was reported that the former prime minister had decided to convalesce from the effects of bladder surgery in a suite at the five-star Piccadilly landmark rather than endure the stairs of her Belgravia townhouse.

Costing thousands of pounds a week for a suite as well as accommodation for her carers, Thatcher was part of a long tradition of rich and famous guests opting for permanent residence in hotels amid failing health.

LeQueen - didn't realise every public figure on here was referred to using an honorific. I must have missed that memo. People are commonly referred to (here as elsewhere) by surnames - Beckham etc.

Snazzynewyear · 09/04/2013 10:44

Thatcher's money - in her days as a chemist didn't she have something to do with inventing new ice cream technology, Mr Whippy style soft ice cream? Played right that could have earned her a lot of cash. Plus there will be royalties from her various books, and earnings from speaking engagements before she stopped doing them, as well as Denis's money.

HazeltheMcWitch · 09/04/2013 10:52

She did work on soft-scoop ice cream technology, but in a junior role, when she was employed by a company. Ie all the work, the learning etc would belong to that company. She would not have got rich from ice cream!

I can't say I see much issue with Thatcher living out her twilight months/years at the Ritz. Her house was listed I assume, it would have needed lots of work done to make it suitable for her and her care, and her carers post-op. But instead she received an offer to stay somewhere, FOC. I'd have taken it, for me, or for my mother.

Lovecat · 09/04/2013 11:00

I couldn't bear Thatcher.

However other than a quiet eye roll at the rich getting yet more stuff for free (always the way - if you can afford it you always seem to be gifted freebies whereas if you're poor you have to pay through the nose for everything) I don't get why this is an issue.

mrsjay · 09/04/2013 11:04

I have read a few famous older people have spent their last few years at posh hotels I would assume she had a suite with a nurse and all her needs were catered too , and places like the Ritz can offer free rooms for certain people as some sort of good will gesture

flatpackhamster · 09/04/2013 11:09

Pigsmummy

After her long hospital stay it was decided that her and nursing staff would live in a rented apartment there rather than try to live back at home. I don't know who paid the bill and don't really care as long as it isn't the tax payer, I don't understand why people have issue with this to be honest?

Haters gonna hate.

If she'd been in a state facility they'd have whinged she shouldn't use it because 'everyone knows' that there was no public sector left in the UK after she resigned (despite the fact that public sector spending rose from 79-90). Since it's a private one they're whinging that it's clearly proof that she was part of the EVIL RICH OVERLORD TORIES.

As she herself said "If my critics saw me walking over the Thames they would say it was because I couldn't swim."

reluctantmover · 09/04/2013 11:10

Lots of guessing here. How do those posting she spent Christmas and most other times alone know this as fact, were you present?

elliejjtiny · 09/04/2013 11:12

She was staying free as a friend of the owners

I need to get some new friends

ajandjjmum · 09/04/2013 11:15

Her house wasn't listed - I understood it was a new build Barratt home in Dulwich.

squeakytoy · 09/04/2013 11:17

"How do those posting she spent Christmas and most other times alone know this as fact, were you present"

It was widely reported in the press. Her daughter and son were not in the country at the time.

The Ritz and a few other of the larger hotels in London are not like the average hotel. They have fully self contained suites with kitchens, and people often rent them long term for months, even years.

worldgonecrazy · 09/04/2013 11:18

I have been told she was alone by people who are in a position to know, and who have no reason to lie to me about such things.

mrsjay · 09/04/2013 11:19

The Ritz and a few other of the larger hotels in London are not like the average hotel. They have fully self contained suites with kitchens, and people often rent them long term for months, even years.

that these hotels are not like 'normal hotels' really people do live in them , ( i watched a thing about claridges so i obviously know it all )

ajandjjmum · 09/04/2013 11:21

I understood that when her niece (her sister's daughter) learned that she was to be alone, she invited her to join her family for Christmas.

LifeofPo · 09/04/2013 11:21

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

MintyyAeroEgg · 09/04/2013 11:22

I don't think she ever lived in the modern house in Dulwich. It was where she was going to move to after she stood down, which was 1990/91 iirc.

mummytime · 09/04/2013 11:22

She sold the Dulwich house a long time ago!

reluctantmover · 09/04/2013 11:23

it does not mean the woman was always alone, because they weren't in the UK yesterday. I find it a bit disrespectful to paint such a picture. I'd be the last person to ever have voted for her or her party, but there is no reason to speculate about the deceased.

LessMissAbs · 09/04/2013 11:24

Considering a "celebrity" like Peaches Geldof lived free of charge, at the owner's invitation, at the Savoy for over two years, I think this a dignified final home for Margaret Thatcher. The owners didn't court publicity (unlike my other example) and it didn't use public resources.

MidniteScribbler · 09/04/2013 11:25

Who cares? It's not like the taxpayer was paying the bill. God, some people are such arseholes.

LessMissAbs · 09/04/2013 11:25

Or was it Claridges?

chris481 · 09/04/2013 11:26

Telegraph said she moved there January because her home didn't have a stairlift.

(It did cross my mind that the expense of adding/removing a stairlift would be considerably less than staying in the Ritz.)

squeakytoy · 09/04/2013 11:27

"I was unaware that the ritz offered maximum security. What a load of bollocks"

Again, the Ritz and similar hotels are not like the average hotel. They do have very tight security in place 24/7.

I know this first hand because my company does a lot of work in there and in other hotels in that area. We were working at a hotel in the same street yesterday and it was chaos.