Thatcher funeral: Boris Johnson among guests

CELEBRITY chef Marco Pierre White, London mayor Boris Johnson and businessman Gerald Ronson – who was jailed for his part in the Guinness shares scandal – are among the latest confirmed guests for the funeral of Baroness Thatcher.

The latest list released by Number 10 also includes Formula One boss Sir Frank Williams, Daily Mail editor Paul Dacre and the broadcaster Martyn Lewis.

Military top brass attending include Chief of the Defence Staff General Sir David Richards and the former head of the army, General Sir Mike Jackson.

Among foreign dignitaries attending are Kuwaiti prime minister Sheikh Jaber Mubark al-Sabah, son of the Gulf state’s ruler, Sheikh Nasser Sabah al-Ahmed al-Sabah; and Italian prime minister Mario Monti.

Other confirmed guests are Antiques Roadshow presenter Hugh Scully, the artist Michael Noakes, who painted Lady Thatcher’s portrait, and the writer William Shawcross.

The funeral service will be “framed” by British music, with pieces by great composers played at beginning and end.

Lady Thatcher’s love of poetry is reflected in her choice of TS Eliot’s Little Gidding, which will be printed on the opening page of the order of service and William Wordsworth’s Ode: Intimations of Immortality on the final page.

David Cameron and granddaughter Amanda Thatcher will deliver the readings from the King James Bible, of which she was particularly fond.

The hymns will be He Who Would Valiant Be, Love Divine, All Loves Excelling, Psalm 84 and the patriotic verse I Vow To Thee My Country.