Thatcher Seems ‘in Mourning,’ Uncertain of Her Role : Politics: Observers note her feisty, determined style is gone. Britain’s ex-prime minister is preparing to visit Los Angeles.

“A woman in mourning” was the way the headline summed up a recent profile of Margaret Thatcher as she prepared to visit Los Angeles--her first overseas trip since she resigned as Britain’s prime minister in November.

The designation seems apt, for observers used to her fighting, feisty style as the nation’s leader and who have seen her at social gatherings say that she now seems somewhat “diminished.”

During 11 years in power, she presented a formidable facade in public and private. And, in fact, her autocratic presence has been cited as a major reason for her downfall, when she failed to rally the support of Conservative members of Parliament to back her.

By the standards of her high-profile leadership, when she monopolized the evening TV news, Thatcher has been a near recluse--appearing infrequently in Parliament and seemingly searching for a new role.

On Friday, the eve of her departure for Los Angeles to attend the 80th birthday party of former President Ronald Reagan and to visit “some companies,” she chatted with guests at a reception--dressed in a black brocaded suit and dark pumps, her hair a champagne color.

She was pleasant and charming, but her manner lacked the authoritative, determined style that characterized her as prime minister. Even her figure seemed slightly stooped.

“Funnily enough,” commented a journalist who has covered her for years, “she no longer stands out in the crowd.”

When asked how she felt about giving up the reins of state--particularly now that her successor is leading Britain in the Persian Gulf War--she replied: “You go along with what life gives you.”

As an aide said: “Were she still in power, with two wars under her belt, that would seal her place in history.”

When Operation Desert Storm began, she appeared outside her house, looking, friends commented, distracted--as if she were uneasy about commenting on a war that she should have been leading.

At the reception, she said that she plans to write her memoirs, possibly three volumes, which she said would have a “serious, academic” tone and would not be an account rushed into the hands of eager publishers.

But she said that, unlike an American President, a former British prime minister receives very few perquisites--a bodyguard or two and a tiny office hardly big enough for her, let alone a proper staff.

In effect, she complained, an ex-prime minister under the British system is pretty much tossed out “into the street.”

Some friends say that Thatcher, in examining the events that brought her down--forced to resign although she never lost an election--may come to the conclusion that she was betrayed by colleagues who advised her to resign rather than fight the challenge mounted by Michael Heseltine.

She and her husband, Denis, purchased a retirement home in suburban Dulwich, but now Thatcher realizes that she needs to be in Central London and is laboriously house-hunting.

She is generally accompanied by her husband, who has been made a baronet, Sir Denis Thatcher, and who has made no secret of his own delight that she is no longer running things from No. 10 Downing St.

When asked whether she prefers being called “Prime Minister” or “Lady Thatcher,” she answered: “I prefer to be called Mrs. Thatcher or Margaret.”

Bernard Ingham, her longtime press secretary, said that he would refer to Thatcher as the “prime minister emeritus.”

Although she points out that she “discovered” her successor, John Major, as an up-and-coming parliamentarian, there are some suggestions that she worries about whether he will maintain the “Thatcher legacy.”

Major is turning into a “consensus” leader, a term that Thatcher detested, calling herself instead a “conviction” leader.

The Thatcher problem, acquaintances said, is to find a proper platform from which to articulate her views--without appearing to be a grumpy back-seat driver, the very charge she leveled against her own predecessor as Tory leader, Edward Heath.

But, former aides suggested, perhaps her visit to Southern California and intense contact with the outside world will help guide her to find a suitable role, which would bring her back onto Britain’s political stage.