A Donegal tweed suit has unexpectedly tuned out to be one of the prized possessions of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.
The suit will now be sold at auction in London next month in a sale featuring various outfits once worn by the Tory leader who was known as The Iron Lady.
Thatcher, who had a tempestuous relationship with Ireland, had an Irish suit may surprise some, but sensible, sturdy tweed has long been a favourite fabric among no-nonsense, conservative women.
Christie’s auctioneers in London said that seven outfits which had belonged to Baroness Thatcher in the 1970s – the decade when she rose to national and then international prominence – would be auctioned individually.
Each has been assigned a pre-sale estimate of £1,000-£1,500 (€1,270-€1,900).
Among them is a suit described as “composed of tailored jacket and pleated skirt of olive green tweed”.
It is a “UK size 12” and labelled “Donegal Handwoven Tweed”. However, although the cloth may have originated in Ulster, the suit was tailored in Kerry, as the label also states: “Handloomed by Moriarty Textiles, Gap of Dunloe, Ireland”.
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