When Justin Welby resigned as Archbishop of Canterbury this week, the British tabloids rushed to bizarrely connect Welby to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. While Welby had been friendly with Prince Harry and Meghan, and he officiated their 2018 wedding, anyone would have been able to draw similar connections with Welby and the rest of the Windsor clan. Welby officiated King Charles’s coronation, he has officiated several of the royal baby christenings and he’s made a point of advising various royals. Overall, Welby is much closer to King Charles in particular. So after the Mail tried to make Welby’s association with the Sussexes into a thing, the Mail’s Ephraim Hardcastle pointed out that Charles made a point of giving Welby a knighthood, even though red flags were raised.
Justin Welby’s past association with serial abuser John Smyth could have jeopardised the royal knighthood he was awarded for presiding at King Charles’ Coronation. My well-placed source whispers that Welby’s former links to Smyth and the ongoing inquiries into his abusive behaviour led courtiers to red-flag the King’s nomination of Welby to the Knight of the Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order in the New Year Honours.
The unanswered questions would probably have caused any other gong to be at least paused by the honours scrutiny committee. However, the King doesn’t need to consult anyone about handing-out the RVO and decided to ignore courtiers’ warnings.
Tradition dictates that departing Welby will be garlanded with the Royal Victorian Chain, a rarely awarded honour usually given to retiring archbishops. It’s also entirely in the King’s gift. But Welby isn’t the only tainted prelate to receive it. George Carey was awarded it in 2002 despite his long involvement protecting disgraced abuser Bishop Peter Ball. When Welby became archbishop he ordered an independent inquiry. Ironically, given how Welby clung on, he ordered Carey to resign as an honorary assistant bishop in Oxford.
The larger issues of church abuses and coverups are being lost here, so let me just focus on why Welby actually resigned: it’s because there’s definitive proof that he stayed silent for YEARS when a rampant, serial child abuser used Christian camps to hunt for victims. While Welby’s role in and knowledge of the coverup has been widely rumored for years, the actual report was only recently released. That being said, King Charles obviously has no problem with Welby, or coverups or hanging around people who abuse children. The way the media gleefully connected Welby to the Sussexes shows that Charles was the one with more sh-t to hide.
Incidentally, the photos below are from today – King Charles, a slumlord who profiteers from Britain’s public services and taxpayers, visited a food bank on his 76th birthday. Interesting that Camilla wasn’t feeling well enough to do this either.
Photos courtesy of Cover Images, Avalon Red.