Carol Thatcher

Carol Jane Thatcher was born on 15 August 1953 at Queen Charlotte's and Chelsea Hospital in Hammersmith, London. She has a twin brother named Mark. She was born six weeks prematurely via caesarean section. Margaret Thatcher, her mother, was a prominent British politician who served as Prime Minister from 1979 to 1990, and her father was businessman Denis Thatcher.

In 1958, Thatcher’s mother was selected as the Conservative candidate for the Finchley constituency in North London, and she was elected as a Member of Parliament in 1959. Carol Thatcher was educated at Queenswood School, a girls' boarding school near Hatfield, Hertfordshire, starting in 1960. Subsequently, she attended St Paul's Girls' School. She graduated with a law degree from University College London.

In 1977, Thatcher moved to Australia to pursue a career in journalism. During her time there, her mother was elected Prime Minister. Thatcher later remarked that growing up as the Prime Minister’s child required resilience and a sense of humor.

Thatcher’s journalism career began in Australia, where she worked at The Sydney Morning Herald from 1977 to 1979. She then became a television reporter at Channel Seven in Sydney and later a reporter on the morning news show 11AM. After returning to the United Kingdom, she worked as a presenter for LBC, BBC Radio 4, TV-am, and wrote travel articles for The Daily Telegraph. Due to her mother’s high-profile political position, many newspapers declined to publish her work directly under her byline.

Her first book, "Diary of an Election: with Margaret Thatcher on the campaign trail," was published in 1983. In 1986, she co-authored "Lloyd on Lloyd" with tennis player Chris Evert Lloyd, which became her first bestseller. Thatcher authored a biography of her father titled "Below the Parapet," published in 1996, and in 2003, produced a Channel 4 documentary about him titled "Married to Maggie," which featured Denis Thatcher's only public interview before his death.

Thatcher has contributed articles to magazines and newspapers and has been involved in television work throughout her career.

In November 2005, she participated in the fifth series of the ITV reality television show "I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!" She was declared the winner of that series, becoming the second person to be crowned "Queen of the Jungle."

She appeared as a guest on Living TV’s "Most Haunted" on 13 February 2007, investigating paranormal activity at Tatton Hall in Cheshire. In 2007, Thatcher traveled to the Falkland Islands and Argentina to film "Mummy’s War," a documentary exploring the legacy of the Falklands War.

Between 2006 and 2009, she contributed to the BBC One magazine programme "The One Show," providing reports and participating in discussions. In February 2009, The Times reported that Thatcher made a controversial remark during a green room conversation at the Australian Open, referring to tennis player Jo-Wilfried Tsonga as a "half-golliwog" and a "golliwog frog." The BBC stated she would not work on "The One Show" again unless she issued a sincere apology, which she declined to do, maintaining that her comment was not racially motivated.

Thatcher authored several books, including "Diary of an Election" (1983), "Lloyd on Lloyd" (1986), "Below the Parapet" (1996), and "Swim on Part in the Goldfish Bowl" (2008).

In her personal life, Thatcher had a relationship with Jonathan Aitken, which ended in 1979. It has been suggested that this breakup influenced Aitken's political career prospects. She resides with ski instructor Marco Grass in Klosters, Switzerland.