Margaret Thatcher | 1925 - 2013

British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher waves to supporters from Conservative Party headquarters in London after claiming victory in Britain’s general election in June 1987.

(Gerald Penny / Associated Press)

April 8, 2013 7:04 AM PT

Margaret Thatcher, a grocer’s daughter who punched through an old-boy political network to become Britain’s first female prime minister, stamping her personality indelibly on the nation and pursuing policies that reverberated decades later, has died. She was 87.

Margaret Thatcher, right, greets Queen Elizabeth II as the monarch arrives for the former prime minister’s 80th birthday party at the Mandarin Oriental hotel in central London. (Odd Andersen / AFP/Getty Images)

President Ronald Reagan and British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher at the White House in Washington. (Gerald Penny / Associated Press)

British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and Russian leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev in London in 1984. (Gerald Penny / Associated Press)

British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher greets a crowd of Russians in Moscow during an official visit to the Soviet Union. (Daniel Janin / AFP/Getty Images)

Margaret Thatcher, leader of Britain’s opposition Conservative Party, sits in a tank of the 7th regiment of the Royal Signals in Herford, West Germany.

(AFP/Getty Images)

British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher swings from a hoist during a visit to the Royal Navy. (Central Press / Getty Images)

Margaret Thatcher, the leader of the then out-of-power Conservative Party, makes a ‘victory’ sign outside her home in London. (John Minihan / Getty Images)

British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher sips tea at the opening of a motorway service area in South Mimms, Britain. (Keystone / Getty Images)

Margaret Thatcher, then Margaret Roberts, a Conservative Party candidate for Britain’s Parliament, is photographed working at her job as a research chemist.

(Chris Ware / Getty Images)