The big guns of the group are Zoffany (a German immigrant who was bankrolled by George III), Thomas Gainsborough, Joseph Wright of Derby and Sir Joshua Reynolds.

FORBES: Ancestor worship

Patrick Salmon, the Foreign Office historian who compiled the volume of papers published on Friday as German Unification 1989-1990: Documents on British Policy Overseas Section III Volume VII, says Mrs Thatcher's trenchant objections made little practical difference.

BBC: Thatcher's fight against German unity