The 2026 Annual Margaret Thatcher Lecture & Gala Dinner

About this event

A Landmark Year. A Fitting Close.

The Event of the Season

The Eleventh Annual Margaret Thatcher Lecture & Gala Dinner

Monday, 14th December 2026 | The Royal Hospital Chelsea, London

Last year’s Centennial Gala Dinner at the Guildhall was the social highlight of the year. This December we will raise the bar still higher.

As the centenary year of Margaret Thatcher’s birth draws to a close, the Margaret Thatcher Centre invites you to a uniquely meaningful evening at the Royal Hospital Chelsea.

Founded by King Charles II in 1682 and designed by Sir Christopher Wren, the Royal Hospital has for more than three centuries been home to the Chelsea Pensioners — veterans who have given service to the nation.

It is also the place Lady Thatcher chose for her final resting place. In 2013 her ashes were laid to rest in its grounds, beside those of her beloved husband, Sir Denis, in the quiet dignity of the institution she had long supported and for which she helped create the modern Margaret Thatcher Infirmary.

No other venue could bring the centenary year to so fitting a close.

This year’s Annual Gala Lecture will be delivered by The Rt Hon The Lord Gove.

One of the most consequential figures in modern British politics, Lord Gove served under four Conservative prime ministers, driving major reform as Education Secretary, Justice Secretary, Environment Secretary and Levelling Up Secretary, and played a leading role in the 2016 Vote Leave campaign. Since leaving the Commons he has edited The Spectator and, in 2025, took his seat in the House of Lords as Lord Gove of Torry.

A longstanding friend of the Margaret Thatcher Centre, he brings rare insight, independent judgement and his own unmistakable spark to our celebration.

Please join us for drinks at 6:30 pm followed by dinner at 7:15 pm as we honour the Iron Lady’s enduring principles of freedom, enterprise and resolute leadership.

This is more than a dinner. It is the gathering of those who still believe that freedom, enterprise and resolute leadership matter. It is the night the capital’s most committed Thatcherites, opinion-formers and friends of liberty will not miss, in a never-to-be-forgotten venue.

She Delivered. Now It’s Our Turn.

BOOK HERE LINK

For full details and to secure your place, visit the event page(will be linked). Our bespoke sponsorship packages start at £2,000. Please note, sponsorship packages and tables are limited. For information on these, or for any other enquiries, please email Gemma Baldock at gemma.baldock@thatchercentre.com.