{"id":495568,"date":"2026-03-26T02:00:18","date_gmt":"2026-03-26T02:00:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/495568\/"},"modified":"2026-03-26T02:00:18","modified_gmt":"2026-03-26T02:00:18","slug":"dame-sarah-mullally-enthroned-as-first-female-archbishop-of-canterbury-in-ceremony-attended-by-prince-and-princess-of-wales-uk-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/495568\/","title":{"rendered":"Dame Sarah Mullally enthroned as first female Archbishop of Canterbury in ceremony attended by Prince and Princess of Wales | UK News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dame Sarah Mullally, the first female Archbishop of Canterbury in the 1,400-year history of the job, has begun her new role.<\/p>\n

The new archbishop marked the start of her job as the Church of England’s top ministry in a ceremony on Wednesday in Canterbury Cathedral.<\/p>\n

\"Dame<\/p>\n

Image:
\n Dame Sarah Mullally strikes the west door of Canterbury Cathedral three times, as is tradition. Pic: PA<\/p>\n

The event marked the beginning of her public ministry as both the head of the Church of England<\/a> and spiritual leader of the worldwide Anglican Communion.<\/p>\n

The ceremony was attended by over 2,000 people, including Prince William and the prime minister.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

Image:
\n The St John’s Bible was used by the new archbishop for her Corporal Oath. Pic: Reuters<\/p>\n

Representatives from many of the communion’s 42 member churches, as well as representatives from the Vatican and the Orthodox Church, also attended.<\/p>\n

Dame Mullally is the 106th person to fill the position, and broke into a broad smile as those gathered greeted her as the new Archbishop of Canterbury.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

Image:
\n The Prince and Princess of Wales and the prime minister were at the ceremony. Pics: PA<\/p>\n

The St John’s Bible was used by the new archbishop for her Corporal Oath – the first time this Bible has been used in this way.<\/p>\n

More on Archbishop Of Canterbury<\/p>\n

She was named to the role last October, and confirmed in it by a ceremony at St Paul’s Cathedral in January, but Wednesday marked the symbolic start of her tenure.<\/p>\n

\"Dame<\/p>\n

Image:
\n Dame Sarah Mullally embraces the Rt Rev Paulina Hlawiczka-Trotman, Bishop of the Lutheram Church. Pic: Reuters<\/p>\n

The Dean of Canterbury, Very Reverend David Monteith, said the first female archbishop “would have almost been unimaginable even 50 years ago”.<\/p>\n

“Today matters,” he said.<\/p>\n

\"Dame<\/p>\n

Image:
\n Dame Mullally is the 106th person to assume the position<\/p>\n

Her appointment to the role is not the first time that the 63-year-old has been a trailblazer.<\/p>\n

The archbishop previously worked as a cancer nurse, becoming the chief nursing officer for England at the age of 37, the youngest person ever to hold the post.<\/p>\n

In a nod to her former career, the archbishop secured her ceremonial cloak with a buckle from the belt she wore as a nurse.<\/p>\n

Read more from Sky News:
Model jailed for conning men found into funding luxury lifestyle<\/a>
Nursery admits corporate manslaughter after toddler suffocated<\/a><\/p>\n

At the age of 40, she became a priest; 23 years later, she now heads another English organisation.<\/p>\n

Her meteoric rise is notable.<\/p>\n

The English church only ordained its first female priests in 1994, and its first female bishop in 2015.<\/p>\n

She was named a bishop in 2015, becoming the fourth woman in the Church of England to reach that rank.<\/p>\n

Three years later, she was named bishop of London, a prominent position within the church.<\/p>\n

\"Sarah<\/p>\n

Image:
\n Sarah Mullally arriving at the service. Pic: Reuters<\/p>\n

She will be aware that her appointment may deepen rifts within the Anglican Communion.<\/p>\n

Members are deeply divided over issues such as the role of women and the treatment of LGBT+ people.<\/p>\n

Dame Mullally replaces former Archbishop Justin Welby.<\/p>\n

\"Sarah<\/p>\n

Image:
\n Sarah Mullally and clergy members arriving at the service. Pic: Reuters<\/p>\n

Her predecessor announced his resignation in November 2024, after he was criticised for failing to act decisively and tell police about allegations of physical and sexual abuse by a volunteer at a church-affiliated summer camp.<\/p>\n

One of her first tasks will be to confront concerns that the church failed to stamp out the sexual abuse scandals that have dogged it for more than a decade.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dame Sarah Mullally, the first female Archbishop of Canterbury in the 1,400-year history of the job, has begun…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":495569,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[59,57,58,50,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-495568","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-kingdom","tag-gb","tag-great-britain","tag-greatbritain","tag-news","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/495568","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=495568"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/495568\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/495569"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=495568"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=495568"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=495568"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}