Mark Thatcher

Sir Mark Thatcher, 2nd Baronet (born August 15, 1953 in Kensington , London ) is a British entrepreneur and former racing car driver .

Life

Like his sister Carol, Mark Thatcher was born the twin of future Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and her husband Denis Thatcher . His name earned him lucrative engagements as a consultant for various companies. Since 1984 Mark Thatcher has been repeatedly confronted with various legal proceedings and investigations into offenses against applicable tax laws, which has earned him the reputation of a dubious businessman. In 1995 he moved to South Africa with his family . He was also accused of involvement in an attempted coup by the military service provider Sandline International in Equatorial Guinea , which he has since admitted. Monaco has therefore declared him a persona non grata . After the death of his father in June 2003, he inherited his title Baronet , of Scotney in the County of Kent. In the summer of 2004, he was arrested and placed under house arrest in South Africa . He was sentenced to four years suspended sentence and a fine. At times he was even threatened with the death penalty .

Motorsport

At times Thatcher was also involved as a reporter and “ gentleman driver ” in international motorsport. In 1980 and 1981 he competed in the Le Mans 24-hour race . In 1982 he took part in the Paris-Dakar Rally with his co-driver Anne-Charlotte Verney . During the rally, he, Verney and a mechanic accompanying them were lost in the desert for five days before they were discovered by an Algerian Air Force search plane .

statistics

Le Mans results

year	team	vehicle	Teammate	Teammate	placement	Failure reason
1980	Scuderia Torino Corse	Osella PA8	Lella Lombardi		failure	accident
1981	Claude Haldi	Porsche 935	Claude Haldi	Hervé Poulain	failure	accident

Individual evidence

1. ↑ John Campbell: Margaret Thatcher. Volume Two: The Iron Lady . Vintage Books, London 2008, pp. 251 f.
2. ↑ Mark Thatcher behind bars. In: Handelsblatt . August 25, 2004, accessed January 6, 2012 . 
3. ↑ A sunny place for shady people but Monaco doesn't want Mark Thatcher. In: The Guardian , December 21, 2005
4. ↑ David Cannadine: Margaret Thatcher: A Life and Legacy . Oxford University Press, Oxford 2017, p. 117.
5. ↑ Dietrich Alexander: Margaret Thatcher's son faces the death penalty. In: Welt online. March 30, 2008, accessed January 6, 2012 . 
6. ↑ John Campbell: Margaret Thatcher. Volume Two: The Iron Lady . Vintage Books, London 2008, p. 140.
7. ^ Mark Thatcher missing in Sahara. BBC , accessed January 6, 2012 . 
8. ^ Mark Thatcher found safe and well. BBC , accessed January 6, 2012 . 

predecessor	Office	successor
Denis Thatcher	Baronet, of Scotney 2003 – present	current title holder