Lady Thatcher met Falklands veterans before they returned to the battlefields for a 20th anniversary remembrance service.

The former Conservative prime minister told the 217 veterans at Gatwick Airport they had "achieved the impossible".

She said: "Freedom is precious. There will always be people who want to take it away from us."

Wearing a long blue coat, Lady Thatcher spent more than an hour talking to the group while bagpipes played in the airport lounge.

She told one ex-serviceman she could not believe the war was 20 years ago.

She said: "It is lovely to come and see you all again. We did the impossible. You think wars are in the past but they're not.

"Our people on the other side of the world were being attacked. They looked to the British people to look after them. We had to do it."

She said those who fought did a "great service to freedom" and told one veteran the war "showed the world we wouldn't be pushed around".

She asked about the population of the Falklands and joked about the penguins.

Sir Rex Hunt, former governor of the Falklands, shook hands with many of the veterans.

Comic Jim Davidson, who helped raise funds for the trip after he was refused government money, also met the veterans before they left.

He told them to "cheer for their commander-in-chief, Lady Thatcher".

The veterans, some with their partners, were flown out of Gatwick by pilots who served in the Falklands.

They will revisit San Carlos, where British soldiers are buried, and will hold a ceremony at the Liberation Monument on Saturday with the Duke of York, who was a helicopter pilot during the war.

There will also be a Sunday Remembrance service at the Cross of Sacrifice in Stanley.

A private ceremony will be held for the veterans and Prince Andrew at Memorial Wood, where a tree has been planted for the 255 British service personnel and the three Falklands civilians who died.

Lady Thatcher later boarded the aircraft to bid farewell to the veterans, some of whom were returning to the Falklands for the first time since the conflict.

Speaking through the aircraft's PA system, she said: "I wish you all a wonderful time and wish I could be with you. I want to hear all about it when you return. We'll have a party."