The Archbishop of Canterbury has surprisingly discovered from a DNA test that he is the son of Sir Winston Churchill's last private secretary, the late Sir Anthony Montague Browne, and not that of Gavin Welby.a
The Most Reverend Justin Welby, 60, had believed his father was whisky salesman Gavin Welby, who died in 1977.
His mother, Jane also known as Lady Williams of Elvel, has confirmed she had a “liaison” with Sir Anthony just before she wed in 1955.
She said the news had come as an “almost unbelievable shock”, and although her memory of the time was patchy, she recalled sleeping with former colleague Sir Anthony after “a large amount of alcohol on both sides”.
The Daily Telegraph reports that he decided to take a DNA test after it approached him with research it had carried out into his family’s background.
It reports mouth swabs were compared with hair samples from a hairbrush kept by Sir Anthony’s widow and showed a 99.9779% probability they were father and son.
However, more than the illegitimacy of his birth, the dignified manner in which Justin Welby and his mother have handled this startling news is praiseworthy.
The Archbishop of Canterbury has been commended by faith leaders for the way he revealed that his biological father was not the man he first thought.
In a statement Justin Welby said: “I know that I find who I am in Jesus Christ, not in genetics, and my identity in him never changes.”
