Mark and Carol's £1million feud over Thatcher auction: Twins 'can't bear to be in same room' as daughter breaks ranks to cash in on mother's keepsakes  

An auction of Margaret Thatcher’s possessions has sparked a bitter family feud which has left her two children at loggerheads, The Mail on Sunday has established.

The rift developed after Sir Mark Thatcher objected to sister Carol’s decision to mount a £1 million sale of their mother’s handbags, shoes and No 10 mementoes at Christie’s this week.

It means the 62-year-old twins now ‘cannot bear to be in the same room’, according to friends.

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Difficult relationship: Carol and Mark, aged 25, who are pictured with their parents at Scotney Castle, in Kent, were left dozens of items in their mother's will 

The ‘Iron Lady auction’ will feature more than 350 items accumulated by Lady Thatcher, ranging from £180,000 necklaces to handwritten notes from US president Ronald Reagan.

Although the sale has been billed as for the benefit of ‘the Thatcher family’, all of the items are being sold by Carol – and for Carol.

Both Carol and Sir Mark were left dozens of items in her mother’s will.

But while Sir Mark has refused to sell his keepsakes, Carol is also selling official gifts given to her mother during her time at Downing Street, as part of what one family friend calls ‘a naked money-making endeavour’.

Last night, one Tory grandee said: ‘For once, Mark is on the side of the angels. His only concern is to protect his mother’s legacy and he thinks this sale is simply abhorrent. They were extraordinarily close and he would never sell anything of hers.’

Sir Mark is understood to have objected that the items being auctioned by his sister include personal gifts from friends who are still alive, and official papers which should have gone instead to the official Thatcher archive at Churchill College Cambridge.

The lots include a pair of cut-glass decanters in a mahogany stand engraved with a plaque saying that it was presented to their father Denis Thatcher by ‘his friends in the 1922 Committee’ of Tory backbenchers – leading the family friend to say: ‘If Denis was alive to see this he would erupt. And Carol’s feet wouldn’t touch.’

The family friend said that the auction had heightened long-running tensions between journalist Carol and her businessman brother.

‘To say the family’s embarrassed by what she is doing is putting it mildly,’ they said.

‘The items are being auctioned not by the family, but exclusively by Carol, and she alone will benefit from the proceeds. Mark is absolutely furious: he has chosen not to dispose of any of the items that their mother wanted him to have.’

The friend added: ‘They include personal, engraved gifts from friends who will be hurt to see them being sold to the highest bidder, and official documents which should be placed in a public archive.

‘Carol claims to need the money, but we think that is debatable.’

The lots include the Red Box used to hold Lady Thatcher’s ministerial papers, which Christie’s expects to attract bids substantially in excess of the £5,000 estimate.

When Lady Thatcher died aged 87 in 2013, her will stipulated that her chattels should be divided evenly between her children and grandchildren.

But both children were also given the chance by the Government to buy some of the gifts given to Lady Thatcher during her time at Downing Street.

When a Prime Minister is given an official present valued over £250, the Cabinet Office stores them for 30 years before offering them to the family for purchase at a ‘market rate’. Sir Mark declined the offer – but Carol accepted.

The Cabinet Office declines to say how much Carol paid for the goods, but the family friend says: ‘Since she has only just bought them and is putting them straight on the market, I think it is fair to conclude that she saw it as an investment opportunity.’

It means that bidders could be forking out thousands of pounds for clothes and jewellery which potentially never even passed through Lady Thatcher’s hands.

So while there is photographic evidence for her connection to some of the items, such as the pink silk brocade jacket and skirt she wore during a dance with president Reagan – guide price £2,500 – other items appear to have come straight from Government vaults.

One item, a pearl, sapphire and diamond necklace which is listed in the Christie’s catalogue as having been ‘given to Margaret Thatcher whilst serving as Prime Minister’, has a guide price of £50,000.

The provenance of the most expensive lot – an art deco emerald necklace listed for £180,000 – is not explained in the catalogue.

Other official gifts include a porcelain vase given to Lady Thatcher by Russian president Boris Yeltsin in 1990, estimated to be worth £5,000, a book on foreign policy by US president Richard Nixon with a handwritten dedication to Lady Thatcher (£600), a clock shaped like a handbag (£5,000) and a white metal bowl donated by Benazir Bhutto, prime minister of Pakistan (£500).

Mrs Thatcher is pictured here with her children , Mark and Carol in 1961, who now ‘cannot bear to be in the same room’, according to friends

The lots also include a stash of documents which family members think should have been saved for the nation, rather than being sold. Among them are manuscripts autographed by Lady Thatcher on ‘relations with the United States’ (£1,200) and a jovial birthday greeting from Reagan to Denis (£1,800).

Bidders can also buy old Christmas cards, pots and pans – and of course a number of handbags.

Christie’s will put 150 lots under the hammer on Tuesday, with a further 200 sold by online auction on Wednesday.

This is not the first time that Carol, who won ITV’s I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! series in 2005, has angered the rest of the family. Seven years ago she wrote about her mother’s dementia in her memoir, revealing that Lady Thatcher couldn’t remember what she’d had for breakfast that morning.

Sir Mark Thatcher, pictured here in 1959 with his sister (left) and mother, objected to sister Carol’s decision to mount a £1 million sale of their mother’s handbags, shoes and No 10 mementoes at Christie’s this week

Carol and Sir Mark have long had a difficult relationship, with Carol – the younger twin by two minutes – claiming that her multi-millionaire businessman brother was their mother’s favourite. She once said: ‘I always felt I came second of the two. Unloved is not the right word, but I never felt I made the grade.’

She also says that she has never forgotten that when she won a prize on sports day neither parent was there to see her receive it.

Carol, who has never married or had children and now spends much of her time in Switzerland, admits being jealous of Sir Mark, who is married with two children.

Neither Carol Thatcher nor Sir Mark Thatcher were available for comment last night. The Cabinet Office said of the auction items: ‘We would not provide this information.’