Archbishop of Canterbury Says DNA Test Shows His Father Was Churchill’s Private Secretary
By YONETTE JOSEPH

The archbishop of Canterbury, leader of the Church of England, said on Friday that a DNA test had revealed that his biological father was not the whiskey salesman who had married his mother, but the man who had been the last private secretary for Sir Winston Churchill.

In an unusually frank statement on his website, the Most Rev. Justin Welby said he had discovered the truth “in the last month,” after taking the test.

“This comes as a complete surprise,” he said.

The archbishop said his father had been a British diplomat, Sir Anthony Montague Browne, who served as a private secretary to Churchill in the last years of his life. Churchill, who was the prime minister of Britain, died in 1965. Mr. Browne died in 2013 at age 89.

Archbishop Welby, 60, said that he had long believed his father was Gavin Welby, whom his mother married in 1955, and that he had released his statement because of “media reports” on the matter. The revelation was reported by The Daily Telegraph, which said it had “pieced together evidence” about the archbishop’s father and had presented that evidence to him.

The Telegraph said Archbishop Welby had then decided to have the DNA test, which compared swabs from his mouth with hair samples from a brush kept by Mr. Browne’s widow. The test showed a 99.9779 percent probability that the two men were father and son, The Telegraph said.

The bishop of Norwich, Graham James, who said he had spoken to Archbishop Welby several times in recent days, told BBC Radio 5 Live that the archbishop had agreed to the test to disprove the claim that Mr. Browne was his father.

“It proved quite the opposite, and he discovered this for certain just before Easter and then contacted his mother,” he said. “His first thoughts were for her rather than anyone else.”

In his statement, Archbishop Welby said that both his mother and Mr. Welby, who The Telegraph reported had been the son of a Jewish immigrant, had been alcoholics, and that Mr. Welby had died “as a result of the alcohol and smoking in 1977.”

“As a result of my parents’ addictions my early life was messy, although I had the blessing and gift of a wonderful education, and was cared for deeply by my grandmother, my mother once she was in recovery and my father (Gavin Welby) as far as he was able,” he said.

His mother, Jane Williams, also known as Lady Williams of Elvel, had worked as a secretary for Churchill in his final years, according to the BBC. In her own statement, she said the DNA result “has come as an almost unbelievable shock.”

She said that before marrying Mr. Welby, “I went to bed with Anthony Montague Browne” — an encounter fueled “by a large amount of alcohol on both sides.”

“It appears that the precautions taken at the time didn’t work and my wonderful son was conceived as a result of this liaison,” she said.

After she wed Mr. Welby, her son “was born almost nine months to the day after our marriage,” she said. That marriage ended in 1958, according to her statement.

Her son later became an oil executive, but he gave up his career to train as an Anglican priest, the BBC said. He was installed as the 105th archbishop of Canterbury in March 2013, becoming the spiritual leader of the Anglican Communion, composed of about 85 million members around the globe.

Archbishop Welby said, “I know that I find who I am in Jesus Christ, not in genetics, and my identity in him never changes.” He said his mother “has not touched alcohol for over 48 years.”

“I am enormously proud of her.” He ended his statement: “What has changed? Nothing.”

英國教領袖驚爆 他是邱吉爾祕書私生子

英國國教全球信徒的領袖、坎特布里大主教賈斯汀．威爾比（Justin Welby），針對得知自己原來是英國前首相邱吉爾最後一位私人祕書的私生子一事，今天表示震驚。

法新社與英國廣播公司（BBC）報導，身為英國國教會及聖公會全球8500萬基督教信徒的精神領袖，威爾比說，這項消息令他感到「相當震驚」。

但60歲的他堅稱未受影響。

威爾比在英國國教會所發布高度罕見的聲明中說：「上個月我發現親生父親不是蓋文．威爾比（Gavin Welby），而是已故布朗爵士（Sir Anthony Montague Browne）。這令人感到相當震驚。」

他表示：「我在耶穌基督身上找到我是誰，而非遺傳學。我的這項認同從未改變。」

比對威爾比口腔和布朗爵士毛髮樣本的DNA，結果顯示2人是父子的可能性達99.9779%。布朗爵士1952至1965年替邱吉爾工作。

原文參照：
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/09/world/europe/archbishop-of-canterbury-father-churchill-private-secretary.html

2016-04-09 聯合新聞網 即時報導 中央社