Sir Denis Thatcher was a British businessman who was married to Margaret Thatcher, the prime minister of UK from 1979 to 1990. He was the first male spouse of a British prime minister. Though he was the object of public criticism and political jokes, he put up with these gracefully and with a sense of good humor. As a young man, he had worked in the army, serving through the Invasion of Sicily and the Italian Campaign. Later on, he embarked on a career of a businessman. He was a wealthy chemical executive before he met and married Margaret, who at that time had newly ventured into politics. He later served as a corporate director after his business was taken over by Burmah Oil in 1966. He was appointed MBE in his own right in 1945. He was made a hereditary baronet in 1990, after the resignation of his wife as the prime minister. He died in June 2003, ten years before his wife’s death in 2013.
