Welby’s mother confirms liaison before her marriage
“The archbishop is intrigued to discover all of this, but it’s not altered his sense of who he is. He’s the same person as he was three weeks ago.”
Welby’s mother has since confirmed she had a liaison with Sir Anthony, who worked for Churchill until 1965, shortly before she married Gavin.
The archbishop was v isiting a playgroup in Sittingbourne, Kent, a few weeks ago when he received the test results on his iPhone confirming that his biological father was not the man he had previously thought.
Welby said he walked towards a window, “anxious to learn the news”.
A Lambeth Palace insider said he is “digesting the recent revelations” as he continues a four-week trip to Zambia to chair the conference of the Anglican Consultative Council.
It’s believed he has yet to make contact with his hal f- sister Jane Hoare-Temple, the daughter of Sir Anthony and his first wife, Noel, or Sir Anthony’s widow, Shelagh Montague Browne.
The insider said: “Once he’s had time to think it through, if there was to be a meeting, it would be a private meeting.
Welby’s mother, who married again and is now Lady Williams of Elvel, said the news was an “almost unbelievable shock”.
She said she and Gavin never suspected there was any doubt about her son’s paternity.
Illegitimate sons were barred from becoming archbishops until a law change in the 50s.
Sir Anthony, who was private secretary to Churchill for the last 10 years of the statesman’s life, died in 2013, aged 89. His widow kept his hairbrush, from which DNA was obtained.
Welby said his experience is “typical” of many people, adding: “To find that one’s father is other than imagined is not unusual.”