Margaret Thatcher, Britain's irrepressible prime minister of the 1980s, observed firsthand the fruits of 19th Century British immigration to Zion.

She was greeted by Church leaders, received an honorary doctorate from BYU and affirmed the moral basis of a free society during a visit to Utah March 1-8.A baroness since 1992, Lady Thatcher visited the state for the UK/Utah Festival, a monthlong celebration of the cultural, business and educational ties between Utah and the United Kingdom.

She was to be the guest of honor at a First Presidency luncheon scheduled for Friday, March 8.

Lady Thatcher attended the Tabernacle Choir's weekly broadcast of "Music and the Spoken Word" Sunday, March 3, then toured the North Visitors Center on Temple Square and the Museum of Church History and Art adjacent to the square.

On Tuesday, March 5, she received an honorary doctor of public service degree from BYU during a special convocation at which President Gordon B. Hinckley presided.

Rex E. Lee, recent past president of BYU, was given an honorary doctor of laws degree at the convocation. His wife, Janet, received the award for her husband, who was ill and watched a television broadcast of the proceedings from his hospital bed.

"Lady Thatcher, thank you for your stirring and challenging words," President Hinckley said in remarks to the audience after her hour-long address. "As we've listened to you, we know why you were called the Iron Lady."

After she received the honorary doctorate, she said, "May I say how greatly honored I am by this degree from your historic university bearing the name of a person whose faith, courage and leadership shaped the future of Utah."

Addressing the topic "the moral basis of a free society," she declared, "Without a moral basis, such a society would not long endure."

"America, my friends, is the only country in the world actually founded on liberty," she observed. "People went to America to be free. The founding fathers journeyed to this country across the perilous seas not for subsidies - there weren't any - not to make a fortune even, but to worship God in their own way, and by their example, to perpetuate freedom and justice more widely."

Societies founded on the basis of morality and freedom prosper, she observed, and she noted that there is no record in history of a genuine democracy going to war with another genuine democracy.

In his remarks, President Hinckley told her: "In this state and in these valleys you have walked where thousands of men and women from England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales of another century walked and worked to make this desert blossom as the rose."

He quoted the words of "O Ye Mountains High" (Hymns No. 34) and said they were written by an Englishman of long ago, a reference to Charles W. Penrose.

President Hinckley spoke of his mission to the British Isles 60 years ago and of his visit last fall to Liverpool, the port from which Latter-day Saints from throughout the British Isles emigrated to "these valleys in the mountains of the American west."

"I love this my native land of America," he said, "but I must confess that I also love the isles of Britain. I spent two fruitful years of my life there. . . . As a young man I respectfully stood and sang `God Save the King,' when George V was on the throne."

At the Tabernacle Choir broadcast on March 3, Lady Thatcher, accompanied by her husband Sir Denis Thatcher, heard a special program entirely consisting of songs by British composers. They included "I Vow to Thee, My Country," by Gustav Holst with words by Cecil Spring Rice.

Announcer and narrator Lloyd D. Newell introduced Lady Thatcher and Sir Denis to the audience prior to the broadcast, noting that the choir sprung from a group of Welsh converts to the Church. "Every choir director from the beginning, and the majority of us associated with the choir, can trace our ancestry to the British Isles," he said.

The Thatchers enthusiastically applauded after the broadcast sign-off. Later, in the the North Visitors Center, she greeted Brother Newell and gave lavish praise to the choir, its director and organist. She told him she and Sir Denis would try to locate the choir broadcast in England so they could hear it every week.

She expressed to Brother Newell the wish that the choir had not omitted the second verse to "I Vow to Thee My Country," which she said contains the point of the song, a reference to the Kingdom of God. She then recited the words from memory:

And there's another country I've heard of long ago,

Most dear to them that love her, most great to them that know;

We may not count her armies, we may not see her King;

Her fortress is a faithful heart, her pride is suffering;

And soul by soul and silently her shining bounds increase,

And her ways are ways of gentleness and all her paths are peace.

Lady Thatcher closed her BYU address with those words, indicating her conviction that spirituality and morality are essential to the welfare of society.

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At the North Visitors Center, the former prime minister viewed the Christus statue and paintings depicting the life of Christ. She was familiar with all the stories and needed no instruction, said her Temple Square missionary guide, Sister Merisa Kennedy Turner Irvine of Scotland.

At the Museum of Church History and Art, director Glen M. Leonard showed her portraits and landscapes done by LDS artists from the British Isles. He took her through the permanent Church history exhibit and pointed out artifacts and displays pertaining to the British influence in the Church.

Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve and his wife, Patricia, escorted the Thatchers on Sunday. "Lady Thatcher was very moved by it all," Elder Holland said. "She saw and understood our focus on the Savior and His ministry."

He said she is something of a musician herself, having sung in the choir at Oxford University, and knew all the selections the Tabernacle Choir performed.

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