King attends church service with incoming Archbishop of Canterbury

The King has been pictured with the incoming Archbishop of Canterbury Dame Sarah Mullally after she delivered a sermon at a service on his Sandringham Estate, days before a formal service to confirm her election.

Charles, wearing a brown overcoat and a suit and tie, walked alongside Dame Sarah after her first sermon at St Peter’s Church in Wolferton, on the King’s Norfolk estate.

Camilla walked beside them, shielded from the cold in a dark brown coat adorned with a silver brooch, a camel-coloured, fur-lined hat and carrying a green handbag and patterned scarf.

The King and Queen were joined at the service by the Princess Royal and her husband, Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence.

Dame Sarah, who has been Bishop of London for almost a decade and is a former NHS nurse, was officially named in October as the first woman to take the Church of England’s top ministry role.

She will be legally confirmed in the post at a service in St Paul’s Cathedral on Wednesday, before her installation – or enthronement – at Canterbury Cathedral in March.

On being named last year, Dame Sarah promised to tackle safeguarding failures in the Church, saying the “dynamics of power” must be confronted.

At the time, Charles congratulated the incoming archbishop on her appointment to a role “which is of such importance in the UK and across the global Anglican Communion”.