Dr Rowan Williams, the former Archbishop of Canterbury and, before that, Archbishop of Wales, has been Master of Magdalene College, Cambridge, since January 2013.
Dr Williams completed his doctorate at Christ Church and Wadham College Oxford, working on the Russian Orthodox theologian, Vladimir Lossky.
His early career began in 1975, as a lecturer at Mirfield, home to the Community of the Resurrection, and then Tutor and Director of Studies at Westcott House, Cambridge. After his ordination at Ely Cathedral, he served as Honorary Assistant Priest at St George's Chesterton, before taking up a lectureship in Divinity at the University Cambridge. In 1984 he was elected a Fellow and Dean of Clare College, Cambridge.
At the age of 36, Dr Williams returned to the University of Oxford as the Lady Margaret Professor of Divinity for six years, before becoming Bishop of Monmouth, and, from 2000, Archbishop of Wales. He was awarded the Oxford higher degree of Doctor of Divinity in 1989, and an honorary DCL degree in 2005, followed by an honorary DD from the University of Cambridge in 2006. He also holds honorary doctorates from more than a dozen other universities, from Durham to K U Leuven, Toronto to Bonn.
In 1990, Dr Williams was elected a Fellow of the British Academy. He is also a noted poet and translator of poetry, and, apart from Welsh, speaks or reads nine other languages. He has published widely, including writings on a wide range of theological, historical and political subjects.
Dr Williams has been a Visiting Fellow of Cumberland Lodge since January 2017.