The Most Rev Justin Welby will spend his final day as head of the Anglican Church entertaining guests at Lambeth Palace.
During his last day in office on Monday, which falls on the feast of Epiphany and is also his 69th birthday, the 105th Archbishop of Canterbury will lead a series of festivities at his official residence.
The Telegraph understands that the day of events for friends, staff and former colleagues is being billed as a “thank you from and celebration of” the outgoing Archbishop and his wife, Caroline Welby.
The celebrations will include lunch in the Great Hall and afternoon tea in the historic Guard Room with a more intimate evening gathering rounding off the packed agenda.
The Archbishop announced he would relinquish his post last November, after an independent report found he failed in his “personal and moral” duty to report John Smyth, the Church of England’s most prolific child abuser, to police.
‘Sorrowful reflection’
But Mr Welby has been criticised for celebrating his time in the role, with one victim of Smyth saying: “I find it extraordinary that the Archbishop thinks it appropriate to celebrate his time in office.
“Presumably at relatively enormous expense to the Church, the Archbishop lunches, while victims wait. Might the time have been better spent actually delivering his testimony to victims as he promised?
“Today should be a time for sorrowful reflection, not a celebration of his flawed time in office.”
The abuse survivor queried whether any of the victims let down by the Church had been invited to the festivities, asking: “Will those who have been harmed by the actions and inaction of the Church of England be represented?”
The outgoing Archbishop will spend much of the day dining and entertaining guests in Lambeth Palace’s grand halls.
In doing so he will be making the most of the official residence before the Most Rev Stephen Cottrell, the Archbishop of York, assumes temporary leadership of the Church on Tuesday.
Farewell celebrations were due to begin at 10.30am, with guests gathering first in the Guard Room, a grand 14th-century hall originally used as the Archbishop’s principal audience chamber.
Overlooking the main courtyard, the room once served as a mustering point for the Archbishop’s private army but has since the 19th century been used to host official functions.
It is understood that as many as 120 guests could attend the palace over the course of the day to celebrate and bid farewell to the outgoing Archbishop.
Around midday, he was set to attend a Eucharist in the palace chapel. Built in the 13th-century early English Gothic style, the chapel was extensively restored after a Second World War blast destroyed its roof and windows.
Lunch in the Great Hall
Festivities will continue following this service, with guests attending a lunch in the Great Hall, another chamber to have been repeatedly rebuilt since the 13th century.
The spacious and airy great room, with its impressive oak hammer-beam roof, houses one of the Church’s largest collections of manuscripts, books, and historical documents.
After the meal, guests will return to the Guard Room for afternoon tea. This light refreshment is to be followed with evensong, where the Archbishop will lay down his crozier, the ceremonial staff carried by bishops, symbolically ending his 11-year tenure.
The celebrations will conclude with a more intimate evening event and dinner, finishing at around 9pm.
It is understood that the day is structured predominantly around the services, rather than being focused on the Archbishop’s birthday.
The majority of guests attending for lunch, afternoon tea and dinner are understood to be Church staff.
However, critics argue that the festivities exemplify the Archbishop’s failure to gauge public sentiment, a lack of sensitivity previously evident in his valedictory House of Lords speech and the five-day wait before resigning after the Church’s handling of the Smyth abuse scandal was exposed.
Speaking to The Telegraph, the abuse survivor said: “As with his speech at the House of Lords, Welby cannot just go quietly.”
Only a month ago, he was forced to apologise for appearing to make light of the Church’s serious safeguarding failures during his final Lords speech, during which he cracked several jokes and suggested that he might not have been responsible for failing to stop Smyth after all.
Smyth, a barrister and Christian youth camp leader, abused up to 130 boys across three countries before his death in 2018 in Cape Town.
A report led by former social services director Keith Makin concluded last November that “Justin Welby held a personal and moral responsibility” to pursue concerns raised with him about the serial predator in 2013, “whatever the policies at play at the time required”.
A spokesman for Lambeth Palace told The Telegraph: “The Archbishop of Canterbury is spending his final day in office privately at Lambeth Palace. He will attend Morning Prayer, lunchtime Eucharist, Evensong, and conclude the day with a service of Compline.
“The Archbishop will be joined by current staff and some friends and former colleagues across the day so he can thank them for their work and say farewell.”
