He had never expected her to respond to his invitation, but the Reverend Michael Boultbee will always remember the morning he and his wife witnessed a rarely seen human side to the Iron Lady.
Now 90 and retired to Dawlish near Exeter, the former vicar had written to the prime minister in 1987 to ask if she would like to attend a service at his parish church at St Merryn in North Cornwall.
Having known her husband, Dennis, was planning to play golf at nearby Trevose while she holidayed in Constantine Bay, Mr Boultbee had hoped Margaret Thatcher would accept his invitation.
But instead, he said he received a "snooty" letter back from her office saying: "Mrs Thatcher will be on holiday and not taking on any official duties."
Thinking that was the end of the matter and Reverend Boultbee heard nothing more until one Saturday evening, when, out of the blue, he received a call from her security people.
"They rang and asked if they could come and examine the church," he said. "I think four of them arrived, complete with dogs. It was the time of the IRA problems and they were all very careful."
But Mr Boultbee explained none of them had quite anticipated how busy the church would be the next day.
"On Sunday morning, they all arrived, including Mrs Thatcher and her daughter. The church was always packed in the summer with holidaymakers, and it was standing room only.
"She arrived very early and came and sat on the front seat. It was as if her security people had never seen a packed church before. They all thought I had rung around asking everyone to come."
Before the service started, Mr Boultbee said he had asked the prime minister whether she would like to have a look around the church after it was finished.
"When the service was over she said, 'I'm sure you want to say goodbye to all your parishoners. When you finish why don't you come outside and meet us?'
"I went out to the church yard and there she was and her security people were panicking."
The vicar then spent some time showing the Iron Lady around the church, while local children took a peek at the inside of her car.
"She had this genuine humbleness to her," he said. "When we went round she spoke to me and was very nice and very ordinary. Not the prime minister, just a very ordinary, interested lady."
