The Archbishop of Canterbury is to meet a half-sister he did not know he had, following the discovery that the man he called "dad" was not his biological father.
The Most Revd Justin Welby underwent a paternity test after the Daily Telegraph presented him with research suggesting Gavin Welby was not his biological father.
The results proved that he was born from a brief relationship between his mother and Sir Winston Churchill's private secretary, Sir Anthony Montague Browne, who died in 2013. The Archbishop's mother, Jane, now Lady Williams of Elvel, confirmed that a liaison, "fuelled by a large amount of alcohol on both sides", had taken place days before her marriage in 1955.
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Welby is currently attending an Anglican conference in Zambia, but friends told the Daily Telegraph that he plans to get to know his newly discovered biological family when he returns on 20 April. He is especially anxious to meet his half-sibling, Jane Hoare-Temple, who, like him, grew up believing she was an only child.
She said she was "taken aback" by the revelation that the most senior figure in the global Anglican Church is her half-brother.
"She has got to get her head around this, just as he does, and he is still processing this new knowledge in his mind," a friend told the Telegraph. "He will be thinking about her emotions, her reactions and when would be the best time to contact her, unless, of course, she gets in touch first."
Welby has previously spoken of his "messy" childhood as an only child raised by alcoholic parents who divorced when he was a toddler. While his mother recovered from her addiction in 1968, his father died of alcohol-related causes in 1977.
In a statement released after the DNA results were made public, the Archbishop admitted the discovery had been a "complete surprise", but that his sense of identity came from "Jesus Christ, not in genetics".
