The Iron Lady to join the Iron Duke in history?

The Guardian is among several British papers reporting plans are in the works for Baroness Thatcher, the former prime minister, to be accorded a state funeral at her death.

A sidebar explains how (1) singular the honor is, and underscores that (2) it is no guarantee of lasting fame.

A British state funeral is usually reserved for the sovereign as head of state. There have been only nine non-monarchs in the past 500 years deemed worthy of this honour: Elizabethan poet and courtier Sir Philip Sidney (1586); one-armed, one-eyed naval hero Horatio Nelson (1806); two-armed, two-eyed soldier and statesman Arthur Wellesley, first Duke of Wellington (1852); Henry John Temple, aka gunboat-toting prime minister Lord Palmerston (1865); the naturalist who came fourth in the BBC's Great Britons poll, Charles Darwin (1882); prime minister William Gladstone (1898); widely forgotten Victorian soldier Field Marshal Frederick Roberts, first Earl Roberts of Kandahar (1914); almost equally widely forgotten Ulster Unionist party leader Baron Edward Carson (1935); and wartime prime minister Sir Winston Churchill (1965).

The Iron Lady will be honoured like the Iron Duke if plans being considered by the Queen and Gordon Brown go ahead (the decision is at the Queen's discretion). A state funeral involves a military procession bearing the coffin on a gun carriage from a private resting chapel to Westminster Hall, where the body lies in state for three days. Later, there is a service at Westminster Abbey or St Paul's.

Princess Diana (1997) and the Queen Mother (2002) had ceremonial rather than state funerals. During a state funeral, the gun carriage bearing the coffin is drawn by sailors; in a ceremonial funeral it is drawn by horses.

The Daily Mail argues that Baroness Thatcher "is a legend who deserves the ultimate salute", hoping that by the time of her funeral "the whole country can agree on her greatness". But will they? Benjamin Disraeli was offered a state funeral, but refused it in his will. Perhaps Thatcher should follow suit.

Benjamin Disraeli (1804-81): having won the race, he declined the laurel.