She was always so particular about detail, passionate about getting things right.
So in the semi-darkness of pre-dawn London yesterday, through virtually deserted streets, they counted the exact number of steps it will take to carry Baroness Thatcher to her funeral service, and timed her journey to the second.
In a full and detailed rehearsal, each man, woman and horse involved in the last stage of the procession enacted the role they will play tomorrow.
Step by step: The weighted coffin is borne up the entrance to St Paul's during the early morning dress rehearsal
It created the bizarre but often stirring spectacle of military marching bands playing to no one, bearskin guardsmen with no crowds to flank – even a minister saying a prayer over an empty coffin.
This was the last chance any of them had to practise for the real thing – the largest funeral in Britain since that of the Queen Mother in 2002.
Beneath grey skies, and then into the sunrise, a ten-strong bearer party carried and escorted a flag-draped, weighted coffin from St Clement Danes, the RAF church on The Strand.
Timing: A gun carriage bears the coffin through the empty streets as dawn rises over London
Tomorrow this is where the coffin bearing Lady Thatcher will be transferred to a horse-drawn gun carriage after its journey by hearse from Westminster.
From here, along Fleet Street and across Ludgate Circus, it will be taken to St Paul’s Cathedral for the funeral service.
Duty: A servicewoman from the Royal Navy lines the streets
In a salute to Lady Thatcher’s celebrated legacy, the pall-bearers were selected from soldiers, sailors and airmen closely associated with the Falklands war.
A single bell tolled as they set off for St Paul’s.
They then moved along the route to the strains of Chopin, Beethoven and Mendelssohn funeral marches.
On the day, thousands are expected to line the streets.
Yesterday only a scattering of early-morning spectators got a preview of the event, involving nearly 800 servicemen and women.
The rehearsal finished before most commuters had even begun their journey.
In the interests of military precision, a final calculation confirmed that the procession would have to walk at 70 steps a minute over a journey of some 1,200 yards, as well as allowing time for choreographed pauses.
It was clearly a useful fine-tuning exercise – the coffin is reported to have arrived three minutes and 15 seconds over schedule.
Major Andrew Chatburn, who has the job of organising it all, said the rehearsal was vital to allow those taking part ‘to get a feel for how it’s going to go so they can perform their duties with confidence on the day’.
And, of course, to do Lady Thatcher proud.
So in the semi-darkness of pre-dawn London yesterday, through virtually deserted streets, they counted the exact number of steps it will take to carry Baroness Thatcher to her funeral service, and timed her journey to the second.
In a full and detailed rehearsal, each man, woman and horse involved in the last stage of the procession enacted the role they will play tomorrow.
Step by step: The weighted coffin is borne up the entrance to St Paul's during the early morning dress rehearsal
It created the bizarre but often stirring spectacle of military marching bands playing to no one, bearskin guardsmen with no crowds to flank – even a minister saying a prayer over an empty coffin.
This was the last chance any of them had to practise for the real thing – the largest funeral in Britain since that of the Queen Mother in 2002.
Beneath grey skies, and then into the sunrise, a ten-strong bearer party carried and escorted a flag-draped, weighted coffin from St Clement Danes, the RAF church on The Strand.
Timing: A gun carriage bears the coffin through the empty streets as dawn rises over London
Tomorrow this is where the coffin bearing Lady Thatcher will be transferred to a horse-drawn gun carriage after its journey by hearse from Westminster.
From here, along Fleet Street and across Ludgate Circus, it will be taken to St Paul’s Cathedral for the funeral service.
Duty: A servicewoman from the Royal Navy lines the streets
In a salute to Lady Thatcher’s celebrated legacy, the pall-bearers were selected from soldiers, sailors and airmen closely associated with the Falklands war.
A single bell tolled as they set off for St Paul’s.
They then moved along the route to the strains of Chopin, Beethoven and Mendelssohn funeral marches.
On the day, thousands are expected to line the streets.
Yesterday only a scattering of early-morning spectators got a preview of the event, involving nearly 800 servicemen and women.
The rehearsal finished before most commuters had even begun their journey.
In the interests of military precision, a final calculation confirmed that the procession would have to walk at 70 steps a minute over a journey of some 1,200 yards, as well as allowing time for choreographed pauses.
It was clearly a useful fine-tuning exercise – the coffin is reported to have arrived three minutes and 15 seconds over schedule.
Major Andrew Chatburn, who has the job of organising it all, said the rehearsal was vital to allow those taking part ‘to get a feel for how it’s going to go so they can perform their duties with confidence on the day’.
And, of course, to do Lady Thatcher proud.