Richard Chartres

Richard John Carew Chartres, Baron Chartres,, FBS (born 11 July 1947), is a retired senior bishop of the Church of England.

Chartres was ordained in the Church of England as a deacon in 1973 and as a priest in 1974.

He served his curacy at St Andrew's Church, Bedford in the Diocese of St Albans.

In 1975, he became domestic chaplain to Robert Runcie, then Bishop of St Albans; he continued in the role when Runcie became Archbishop of Canterbury.

Then, in 1984, he joined St Stephen's Church, Rochester Row, in the Diocese of London, as its priest-in-charge.

He was made its vicar in 1986, and continued to lead the parish until he was made a bishop in 1992.

He received a Lambeth Bachelor of Divinity degree and holds honorary doctorates from Brunel University, City University London, London Metropolitan University, St. Mary's University College, and London Guildhall University.

He was sworn of the Privy Council in the same year he became Bishop of London, having been Gresham Professor of Divinity from 1987 to 1992.

From 1987 to 1992, he was a Professor of Divinity at Gresham College in London.

Other Gresham lectures by Chartres covered the Shroud of Turin (November 1988) and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem (December 1989) when he spoke about the "Gresham Jerusalem Project" as well as on prayer (1991).

Chartres served as area Bishop of Stepney from 1992 to 1995 and Bishop of London from 1995 to 2017.

Based on a three-part lecture series, given in May 1992, he published A Brief History of Gresham College 1597–1997.

During the first lecture of the original lecture series he referred to the college as a "magical island like Atlantis" disappearing and re-emerging from the sea.

This was a reference both to the Invisible College and Francis Bacon's New Atlantis.

On 15 May 1992, Chartres was nominated area Bishop of Stepney.

He was consecrated as bishop on 22 May 1992 at St Paul's Cathedral, by George Carey, Archbishop of Canterbury.

In November 1995, Chartres was enthroned as the Bishop of London, also becoming Prelate of the Order of the British Empire, Dean of the Chapels Royal and a Privy Counsellor.

In 1997 he was appointed a Chaplain of the Most Venerable Order of Saint John (ChStJ).

In 1997, Chartres was one of the executors of the will of Diana, Princess of Wales, and delivered an address at her memorial service in 2007.

He confirmed both the Prince and Princess of Wales.

An Honorary Bencher of the Middle Temple since 1998, he is a Liveryman of the Worshipful Companies of Merchant Taylors and of Drapers, and has been admitted as an Honorary Freeman of the Grocers', Vintners', Weavers' and the Woolmen's Companies.

In October 2005, he joined Marianne Suhr at St Giles in the Fields, London WC2, to launch a new maintenance project for the capital's historic churches.

In January 2006, Chartres was criticised by the media for his decision to spend Easter on a cruise ship giving lectures on theology rather than attend the services at St Paul's Cathedral.

At the time, Chartres was on a two-month sabbatical, his first in 33 years.

Since its launch in 2006, Chartres has led the Church of England's "shrinking the footprint" campaign, aimed at cutting 80% of the Church's carbon emissions by 2050.

In the launch and subsequently, Chartres criticised pollution of the planet by people going on holidays by plane.

Michael O'Leary, boss of the low-cost airline Ryanair, responded that "the Bishop of London has got empty churches – presumably if no one went on holidays perhaps they might turn up and listen to his sermons. God bless the Bishop!"

Also, after criticism that his taking flights for "diocese work" as well as retaining a chauffeur-driven car were against the ideals of this campaign, he pledged not to fly for a year.

On 12 September 2009 he presided at the marriage of Lord Frederick Windsor to actress Sophie Winkleman at the Chapel Royal in Hampton Court Palace.

Chartres is the founder and chairman of the trustees of the St Ethelburga's Centre for Reconciliation and Peace.

He is also a trustee of Coexist, sitting on the advisory council of the Tony Blair Faith Foundation.

He preached the sermon at the wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton on 29 April 2011.

In 2013, Chartres led the state funeral service of Baroness Thatcher, with whom he had a close friendship.

Chartres oversaw the Church of England's relations with the Eastern Orthodox churches, representing the Church of England at the funeral of Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow of the Russian Orthodox Church and the enthronement of his successor, Kirill I, at Saint Basil's Cathedral.

On 19 July 2016, it was announced that Chartres was to retire as Bishop of London effective from Shrove Tuesday, 28 February 2017, but remain as Dean of the Chapels Royal until the next Bishop of London took post.

In October 2017, Chartres was created a life peer, and now sits as a crossbencher in the House of Lords, previously sitting as a Lord Spiritual.

Chartres was born at Ware, Hertfordshire, to Richard Arthur Carew Chartres and Charlotte, daughter of William Day, of London; the Chartres family were Irish gentry of Huguenot origin.

He was educated at Hertford Grammar School (now Richard Hale School) and Trinity College, Cambridge (MA), where he read history before pursuing religious studies at Cuddesdon and Lincoln Theological Colleges.

He has spoken of his great-uncle, John Chartres, "called [the] 'Mystery Man of the Treaty' was a member of Sinn Féin and a Protestant civil servant. He was also undoubtedly a gun runner for Michael Collins".

He retired as Dean following his 72nd birthday in July 2019, being succeeded by Dame Sarah Mullally.