Although the city has been at the centre of a fatal meningitis outbreak, no changes to planned events were deemed necessary.
The installation – historically known as an enthronement – marks the symbolic start of Dame Sarah’s public ministry as the Archbishop of Canterbury.
The 105 previous Archbishops of Canterbury, from St Augustine in 597 AD, have all been men. Women were only allowed to become priests in the Church of England from 1994.
“Once I try and get my head around being the archbishop, I recognise the significance of being the first female archbishop, but I am also aware of the women that have supported me in my ministry,” Dame Sarah told the BBC.
The archbishop said men had also supported her but that this afternoon’s service – would give the sense of being “something about celebrating women”.
“But [it’s] also being able to say to other people, in a sense, it’s entirely possible for you to follow your dreams and what you want to do,” she said.
From 1980, Dame Sarah had been a nurse, eventually becoming the youngest ever chief nursing officer for England in 1999.
She was still performing that role when she was ordained as a priest in 2002 and became the first female Bishop of London in 2018.
In the days leading up to the service, Dame Sarah walked nearly 90 miles over six days in a pilgrimage from St Paul’s Cathedral to Canterbury Cathedral.