Welby ignored ‘mad’ truth about real dad
Archbishop told bombshell news about father three years ago
THE Archbishop of Canterbury confided to a fellow bishop more than three years ago that he was aware of claims he was the love child of Winston Churchill’s private secretary, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.
In a private conversation at the House of Lords, Justin Welby told his close friend Graham James, the Bishop of Norwich, he was not ‘entirely dismissive’ of rumours he was the son of war hero Sir Anthony Montague Browne.
This newspaper can also reveal the man now identified as Archbishop Welby’s biological father had suspected he was his son for years – but actively avoided meeting him and left him out of his will.
A DNA test taken by the Archbishop sensationally revealed the Eton-educated cleric was actually conceived shortly before his mother, then Jane Portal – and Churchill’s personal secretary – married Gavin Welby, a wealthy whisky salesman. His mother, now Lady Williams, said last week that the news was an ‘almost unbelievable shock’ and that her liaison with Sir Anthony had been ‘fuelled by a large amount of alcohol’.
Bishop James told this newspaper the Archbishop had told him of the revelation a few weeks after being named leader of the Church of England in November 2012. Bishop James said: ‘I can remember Justin telling me in confidence, “You’ll never believe it, but someone is claiming his father is my real father”.
‘I vividly remember it because on the whole, people don’t come along and tell someone that their dad isn’t their real dad.’
He said that at the time, the Archbishop did not believe the claims as he had been born about nine months after his mother married and considered himself to have been a ‘honeymoon’ baby.
Bishop James said: ‘We put it down to the fact there is no shortage of mad people who approach new archbishops with all sorts of tales. He didn’t entirely dismiss it, but there was nothing followed up because Sir Anthony died a few months later.’
The paternity claims were originally raised with Justin Welby by Sir Anthony’s stepson, Paddy Macklin, days after he recognised a family resemblance in photographs of the newly appointed Archbishop. His stepfather had confirmed he could be the cleric’s father.
In early 2012, Mr Macklin phoned Archbishop Welby’s office – at that time he was Bishop of Durham – and told the surprised cleric that he thought Sir Anthony was his father.
Sir Anthony, a former RAF pilot and Sir Winston’s most trusted adviser between 1952 and 1965, had wanted to meet the Archbishop, apparently to reconcile with his son, but he died aged 89 just after his son’s enthronement in April 2013.
Mr Macklin told the MoS that his late stepfather kept his love child secret for decades, but he left Justin Welby out of his will and even prevented his wife from inviting the young Justin and his mother to their home in Bucklebury, Berkshire, on several occasions.
Mr Macklin said: ‘My mother knew Justin’s mother and her husband Charles [she had married Charles Williams in 1975, having divorced Gavin Welby in 1958] and she wanted on a few different occasions to invite them over to the house. But he was never keen to do that, which in hindsight is understandable I suppose. He had held the secret pretty close. He said he had known for years he may have a son. The rest of us have known since about 2013.
‘He admitted it as soon as I put the picture of Justin in the paper in front of him in the care home. It was so obvious. I think my mother, too, had suspected it for a long time.’
Mr Macklin, a round-the-world yachtsman, added: ‘You didn’t need a DNA test because to me it was pretty clear – Welby looked just like him. Once I had showed him a picture, he told me he had suspected for years that Justin was his son.
‘I was very fond of AMB and I wanted to close the circle for him, so I called up Justin’s office in Durham... my motives were purely altruistic. AMB knew Justin Welby was his son and I wanted Justin to know that, too.
‘I talked to him on the phone for about 15 to 20 minutes. He was very collected about it. There was neither an outright immediate acceptance or a denial. I think he was genuinely surprised. It was all I could do for the sake of the old man. AMB was frail and in those circumstances sometimes people go very quickly.
‘I wanted to ring Justin and give him warning. I said I would let him know if there was much deterioration in his condition. I said we should try and arrange a meeting and Justin was keen. Then it got busy with him becoming the Archbishop of Canterbury and the meeting never happened before AMB died, sadly.’
Justin Welby was not named in Sir Anthony’s will after he died on April 1, 2013. Mr Macklin said: ‘I don’t think he considered that Justin needed anything leaving to him.’
Montague Browne, who was born in 1923 and educated at Stowe and Oxford, contrasted sharply with the man Justin Welby had thought to be his father. While Gavin Welby was a high-society rogue and an alcoholic, Montague Brown was a decorated pilot and pillar of the establishment.
When Churchill died he left Montague Browne £10,000 as a mark of his gratitude. The diplomat also worked for the Queen before a career in the City.
The Archbishop’s paternity was finally confirmed in a DNA test last month after a newspaper investigated the claims. Scientists at North-gene, a British company which tested DNA from the Archbishop and hair samples obtained from a hairbrush used by Sir Anthony, analysed 15 sets of ‘markers’ and found they all matched.
Archbishop Welby, who is attending an Anglican Conference in Lusaka, Zambia, was said to be looking relaxed yesterday. He insisted he was not disturbed by the discovery but admitted in a statement that it had come as ‘a complete surprise’, adding: ‘I know that I find who I am in Jesus Christ, not in genetics, and my identity in him never changes.’
‘He had held the secret pretty close’