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WATCH: Congregation gathers at Canterbury Cathedral for installation of new Archbishop
Mar 25, 2026
The large congregation has arrived for the instillation of the Church of England's first female leader, Dame Sarah Mullally.The ceremony, taking place at Canterbury Cathedral, will see more than 2000 people expected to attend the enthronement, including the Prime Minister and the Prince and Princess of Wales, who will be representing the King.WATCH ABOVE.
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That was Dame Sarah Mullally, who, of course, is becoming the first female Archbishop of Canterbury
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in a ceremony we can see the beginnings of here. This, of course, Canterbury Cathedral, the most magnificent architecture around a historic ceremony
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that is taking place as we speak. More than 2,000 people are expected to attend the enthronement ceremony
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including the Prime Minister and the Prince and Princess of Wales, who will be representing the King
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Dame Sarah is 106th person to take on the Church of England's top ministry
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but as Tom just said, the first ever woman in the entire 1,400 history of the role
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She's certainly got a tough job on her hands, but she's had a tough job to get there
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This was her ambition since she left school at 16. She also became a nurse, and she rose to the very top of that profession as well
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So quite an astonishing woman who knows what she wants and achieves it
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Well, the first ever Archbishop of Canterbury existed before England did. No, it was Augustine of Canterbury who was sent to what later became England
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by Pope Gregory the Great in get this 597 AD That is about 400 years before England even existed as one polity
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I mean, what a historic institution this truly is. Well, we can go to Will Godley, who is at the cathedral for us
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Will, this is a historic ceremony and a historic day. Yeah, it's certainly a historic day and this service and this enthronement is going to take place today on what is the Feast of Annunciation
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Gabriel told Mary she would be the mother of Jesus and that will be one of the key themes in this service
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as we are seeing people enter the cathedral now in this procession
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We're told that the hope of Jesus will be one of the key themes of this enthronement today
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And this procession that we're seeing on our screens now from inside Canterbury Cathedral
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as the bells ring out outside are a number of church leaders from here in the UK
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and also around the world Almost 200 or so church leaders including area deans and lay this of canterbury also you got visiting bishops from the anglican communion people from
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st paul's cathedral you've also got deans of the church of england and bishops of the church of
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england as well who will be entering the cathedral in this procession as will primates
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and communion and their representatives. There are 30 or so primates who have travelled to be here from around the world
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as this service today will also celebrate the diversity of the church
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and they're doing that through including a number of different languages in this service
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Some six languages will be spoken today including songs sung in Urdu
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There'll be a reading in Spanish and there'll also be a prayer in Bemba, the language of Zambia
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We'll also have a number of hymns at the service today, hymns that have been chosen by the Archbishop Sarah herself
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who will in this service deliver her first sermon as the Archbishop of Canterbury This service of course marks the historic start of public ministries in the Church of England and as part of this service she will be enthroned not only on one it very windy
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outside here, you might hear some of the wind around me, she'll be enthroned on two separate
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chairs. The first will be the Bishop's Chair, which dates back to 1844
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and that enthronement will mark her as the Canterbury and the service
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she will have here in East Kent and the diocese. She will then
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move over to the ancient Chair of St Augustine, which has been here at the
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Canterbury Cathedral since the early 13th century. And that is when she's installed
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and as the primate of all of England and effectively the head of the Church of England
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And this is a chair where archbishops have been for years and years
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centuries in fact, before her. But today she'll be the first woman to sit in that chair
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as she becomes the first female archbishop as this procession continues in the church
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in the cathedral here in Canterbury
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