My Dad is the Archbishop! Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Justin Welby

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• published: 10 Nov 2012
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His style is self-deprecating, his family background surprisingly colourful. The great unanswered question, though, is just why did oilman Justin Welby throw up his six-figure salary and executive lifestyle to become a priest? Yesterday, 56-year-old Dr Welby — ordained barely 20 years ago and appointed Bishop of Durham only last autumn — was named the new Archbishop of Canterbury, the Church of England's most senior post and spiritual head of 77 million Anglicans worldwide. As Damascene conversions go, Dr Welby's story must be classified as positively Biblical. The child of a broken home (his parents divorced when he was just three), he went to Eton and Cambridge, then spent years working in Paris and London, climbing the ladder in the tough but rewarding oil business. Then in 1989, at the age of 33, he threw it all up to enter Cranmer Hall theological college in Durham, and by 1992 he was a curate. (Given his appointment this week, it is entertaining to note that the late Bishop of Kensington, John Hughes, when approached by Justin Welby, said: 'There is no place for you in the Church of England. I have interviewed a thousand for ordination, and you don't come in the top thousand.') At a Lambeth Palace press conference to announce his appointment yesterday, the Archbishop elect signalled the start of a battle with David Cameron over same-sex marriage, declaring his opposition to the Coalition's plans to allow gay couples to marry His confirmation, in a single sentence, that he backs a strong line against gay marriage means an inevitable clash between the Church and the Government, though he went on to say: 'I am always averse to the language of exclusion. His new role is affirmation of his meteoric rise, on the back of self-effacing observations such as 'Let's be clear, I'm one of the thicker bishops in the Church of England'; and, as he rose to make his maiden speech in the House of Lords last spring, a declaration that he was 'astonished' to be there at all. This self-deprecating sense of wonder at his lofty position is clearly shared by his daughter Katherine, 26. On her public Twitter page yesterday, Miss Welby, a former police officer who now works for a Christian charity and lives in London, tweeted: 'WHAT THE.....!??!??! MY DAD is the new ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY???!! Nobody tells me nuffink. (grumbles to self in corner of office).' Later, she added: 'My dad is the Archbishop of Canterbury to be. This is a very surreal moment!! Love this man!'