How Margaret Thatcher’s Grandson Became a Texas Football Hero

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The New York Sun

You can put it down to competitive genes. Margaret Thatcher’s teenage grandson is proving a star receiver for his high school football team in Dallas, propelling it into the state finals.

Michael Thatcher, 18, the son of Sir Mark Thatcher, one of the former British prime minister’s twin children, has been playing American football for just three years. Until he moved to Texas from Cape Town, South Africa, following his father’s arrest for taking part in a coup plot by mercenaries in Equatorial Guinea, he played field hockey and cricket.

At 6 foot 1 inch and 170 pounds, he may be thought too lightweight to be an effective running back, but it is his skill at receiving that has made him a local sports hero. A recent over-the-head, fingertip catch and tumble went for a 48-yard gain and ensured victory for the Scots, his Highland Park high school team, in a playoff game against West Mesquite.

“It was a spectacular catch,” coach Randy Allen told the Dallas Morning News. “I have never seen one like that.” Eight plays later, Mr. Thatcher scored on a 12-yard reception, giving Highland Park a 21–6 lead at halftime. They went on to win 49–6.

The game caused a television commentator to rave at the teenager’s athletic skills. “Wow! Can the guy run? Can he catch? Can he do everything?” he asked.

Lady Thatcher’s only grandson was modest about his achievement. “I’m not known for my hands. I was in a state of shock, to be honest,” he told the News. His achievement, performed before a crowd of 10,000, is all the more remarkable because he is so new to the game. “I didn’t know what a first down was until the end of the year,” he said.

Although Mr. Thatcher is so closely related to one of the world’s most famous and successful political leaders, he said he is finding the attention being paid to his sporting prowess daunting. “I almost got tired of hearing about it. It’s always fun to have people telling you are doing well,” he said.

Mr. Thatcher, who was born in Dallas in February 1989 and has dual British and American citizenship, attributes his sporting ability to his father. “My dad was really excited to get me playing cricket and field hockey. He was a great cricket player when he was my age,” he told the News.

Sir Mark, who played cricket and racquets at Winston Churchill’s alma mater, Harrow School, before briefly becoming a motor rally driver, was unable to witness his son’s triumph firsthand.

He is barred from visiting America since he pleaded guilty to taking part in a failed plot to overthrow the government of Equatorial Guinea, for which he was fined $530,000 and given a four-year suspended prison sentence as part of a plea deal in 2005. After a period under house arrest, he pleaded guilty to negligence for investing in an aircraft “without taking proper investigations into what it would be used for” and agreed to leave South Africa.

Sir Mark became a hereditary baronet in June 2003 on the death of Baroness Thatcher’s husband, Denis, a professional rugby football referee and keen amateur golfer. He divorced his wife, Diane, daughter of a Texas car dealer, Theodore Burgdorf, in April this year after 20 years of marriage. They also have a daughter, Amanda Margaret, born in 1993. Lady Thatcher enjoys a close relationship with Sir Mark, a fact that has caused her considerable political discomfort over the years because of his habit of getting into trouble. At every general election, his mother banished him abroad for fear of embarrassment. Through a succession of business dealings, he has amassed a personal fortune estimated at $120 million.

While his mother was prime minister, Sir Mark was the subject of press stories accusing him of using her diplomatic contacts to receive commission on a $40 billion arms contract with Saudi Arabia she signed on behalf of the British government in 1985. He has always denied the allegations. When Sir Mark was living in South Africa with his wife and children in 1998, his financial services company was investigated for running a loan shark operation to policemen and their families. When living in Texas, criminal charges against him for American tax evasion were eventually dropped.

On his divorce, he lived for a short time with Lady Thatcher at her home in Lowndes Square, London, before moving to Monte Carlo. Last year, the Monaco authorities told him his one-year residency permit would not be renewed.

Michael Thatcher appears to owe as much to the spirit of his paternal grandmother as to that of his father. As his coach, Mr. Allen, told the Daily Telegraph, “His is a story about hard work, dedication, and discipline. He lifts weights and practices catching the ball with the quarterback. I’m not sure what Michael’s future will be, but he could be one of the best running backs in the state.”

This season, however, a state title was not to be. On Saturday, the Scots lost the Class 4A Division II state final to Lake Travis, 36–34.

Mr. Wapshott’s “Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher: A Political Marriage” is published by Sentinel.


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