Among other things, Thatcher said:
“He was able to say ‘God Bless America’ with equal fervour in public and in private. And so he was able to call confidently upon his fellow-countrymen to make sacrifices for America – and to make sacrifices for those who looked to America for hope and rescue.
“With the lever of American patriotism, he lifted up the world.
“And so today the world – in Prague, in Budapest, in Warsaw, in Sofia, in Bucharest, in Kiev and in Moscow itself – the world mourns the passing of the Great Liberator and echoes his prayer ‘God Bless America’.
…
“And as the last journey of this faithful pilgrim took him beyond the sunset, and as heaven’s morning broke, I like to think – in the words of Bunyan – that ‘all the trumpets sounded on the other side’.“We here still move in twilight. But we have one beacon to guide us that Ronald Reagan never had.
“We have his example. Let us give thanks today for a life that achieved so much for all of God’s children.”
Very moving words, from one who knew him well.