Margaret Thatcher, as we all know, took her final breath at London's Ritz. It's certainly an unusual venue to feature on a death certificate, but she's not the first to permanently check-out at this hotel.
Fred Moore Woolworth, the founding MD of the Woolworth's stores in the UK, died at the Ritz in January 1923. Like Baroness Thatcher, he suffered a fatal stroke. His stores were ordered to close for a day as a mark of respect.
Courtenay Morgan, 1st Viscount Tredegar, owned one of the largest yachts in the world and used it to sail twice around the world. He was also a peer, but is thought never to have spoken in the House of Lords. He died at The Ritz in May 1934, aged 67, from bronchial pneumonia.
Most recently, another Conservative life peer Lord Steinberg, passed away at the hotel in November 2009, aged 73. The multi-millionaire businessman had built up a fortune through the gambling industry. He'd been travelling to London for a session in the House of Lords, when he suffered heart failure. He'd previously cheated death two decades before, when he was shot five times by the Provisional IRA.
