LONDON (AP) — Former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher has returned home following two weeks in the hospital, managing a smile and a wave to reporters camped outside her doorstep Monday.
The Conservative icon fell ill with the flu last month and had to skip an official reception honoring her 85th birthday, but spokesman Timothy Bell said Thatcher had been given the all-clear by her doctors and would now be getting some rest.
Thatcher looked frail as she was led out to greet the media following her release from London’s private Cromwell Hospital. She gripped the iron railing outside her home and seemed to have trouble focusing on the cameras pointed at her from across the street. But eventually she perked up, smiled and waved before being led back inside.
Thatcher has suffered a series of recent health problems.
In 2008, she became ill during a dinner at Westminster and spent the night in the hospital as a precaution. A few years earlier, her doctor advised her not to make any more public speeches following several minor strokes.
