imported>AdaumFitzawitt18 at 09:20, 10 November 2025

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{{Short description|Archbishop of Canterbury from 1980 to 1991}}
{{Use British English|date=May 2011}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2020}}
{{Infobox Christian leader
| honorific-prefix = {{pre-nominal styles|size=100%|RRevd|&RHPC}}
| honorific-suffix = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|MC|PC}}
| title = [[Archbishop of Canterbury]]
| name = Robert Runcie
| image = Robert Runcie 1981.jpg
| alt =
| caption = Runcie in 1981
| church = [[Church of England]]
| province = [[Province of Canterbury|Canterbury]]
| diocese = [[Diocese of Canterbury|Canterbury]]
| see =
| enthroned = 25 March 1980
| ended = 31 January 1991
| predecessor = [[Donald Coggan]]
| successor = [[George Carey]]
| ordination = {{Br separated entries|24 December 1950 (deacon)| December 1951 (priest)}}
| ordained_by = [[Noel Hudson]]
| consecration = 24 February 1970
| consecrated_by = [[Michael Ramsey]]
| other_post = [[Primacy of Canterbury|Primate of All England]]
| birth_name = Robert Alexander Kennedy Runcie
| birth_date = {{birth date|1921|10|02|df=yes}}
| birth_place = [[Birkenhead]], England
| death_date = {{death date and age|2000|07|11|1921|10|02|df=yes}}
| death_place = [[St Albans, Hertfordshire]], England
| buried = [[St Albans Cathedral]]
| nationality = British
| religion = [[Anglican]]
| residence =
| parents =
| spouse = {{marriage|[[Rosalind Runcie|Rosalind Turner]]|5 September 1957}}
| children = 2, including [[James Runcie|James]]
| previous_post = [[Bishop of St Albans]] (1970–1980)
| occupation =
| profession =
| alma_mater = {{unbulleted list | [[Brasenose College, Oxford]] | [[Westcott House, Cambridge]]}}
| signature = Robert Runcie Signature.svg
| feast_day =
| venerated =
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| beatified_place =
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}}

'''Robert Alexander Kennedy Runcie, Baron Runcie''', {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|sep=,|MC|PC}} (2 October 1921 – 11 July 2000) was an English [[Anglican]] bishop. He was the [[Archbishop of Canterbury]] from 1980 to 1991, having previously been [[Bishop of St Albans]]. He travelled the world widely to spread [[ecumenicism]] and worked to foster relations with both Protestant and Catholic churches across Europe. He was a leader of the [[Liberal Anglo-Catholicism]] movement. He came under attack for expressing compassion towards bereaved Argentines after the [[Falklands War]] of 1982, and generated controversy by supporting [[women's ordination]].<ref>John Cannon, ''The Oxford companion to British history'' (2002), p. 826.</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=1985-11-22 |title=Archbishop of Canterbury's letter to Cardinal Willebrands on ordination to the priesthood |url=https://iarccum.org/doc/?d=765 |access-date=2023-06-03 |website=IARCCUM.org |language=en-GB}}</ref>

Biographer [[Adrian Hastings]] argues that Runcie was not a distinguished writer or thinker, but was a good administrator who made shrewd appointments, demanded quality, and recognised good performances.<ref>Adrian Hastings, ''Robert Runcie'' (Continuum, 1991).</ref>

==Early life==
Runcie was born on 2 October 1921 in [[Birkenhead]], [[Cheshire]],<ref>{{cite web |url=http://anglicansonline.org/archive/news/articles/2000/000713a.html |title=Robert Runcie, obituary}}</ref> youngest of four children of Robert Dalziel Runcie, chief electrical engineer at the [[Tate and Lyle]] sugar refinery at [[Liverpool]], and his wife Ann Edna (known as "Nancy"), née Benson. His middle-class parents were rather non-religious; his father was 'fond of bowls and golf'.<ref>Robert Runcie, Adrian Hastings, Mowbray, 1991, p. 8</ref><ref>Dod's Parliamentary Companion 2000, Dod's Parliamentary Companion Ltd, 2000, p. 288</ref> He spent his early life in [[Great Crosby]], [[Lancashire]], and initially attended [[St Luke's Church, Great Crosby|St Luke's Church, Crosby]] (where he was confirmed in 1936), before switching to the [[Anglo-Catholic]] [[St Faith]]'s Church about a mile down the road. He was educated at [[Merchant Taylors' Boys' School, Crosby]], before going to [[Brasenose College, Oxford]].

During the [[Second World War]] he was [[Officer (armed forces)|commissioned]] as a [[second lieutenant]] into the [[Scots Guards]] on 21 November 1942, and was given the service number 251985.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=35830 |page=5552 |date=18 December 1942 |supp=y}}</ref> He served with the regiment's 3rd (Tank) Battalion, then part of the [[6th Guards Tank Brigade (United Kingdom)|6th Guards Tank Brigade]], as a [[tank commander]], landing in Normandy with his unit as part of [[Operation Overlord]] in July 1944, a few weeks after the [[Normandy landings|D-Day landings]] on 6 June, and fought with the battalion throughout the entire [[North West Europe Campaign]] until [[Victory in Europe Day]] (VE Day) in May 1945. Towards the end of the war, he earned the [[Military Cross]] (MC) for two feats of bravery in March 1945:<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=37112 |page=2878 |date=5 June 1945 |supp=y}}</ref> he rescued one of his men from a crippled tank under heavy enemy fire, and the next day took his own tank into an exceptionally exposed position in order to knock out three [[anti-tank gun]]s. As a result, he is unique among modern archbishops of Canterbury in having fought for his country. In May 1945, he was among the first British soldiers to enter the [[Bergen-Belsen concentration camp]].

After the surrender of [[Nazi Germany]], Runcie served with the occupying forces in [[Cologne]] and then with the boundary commission dealing with the future status of the [[Free Territory of Trieste]].

On his return to Oxford, he surprised many by taking [[first-class honours]] in [[Greats]].{{sfn|Mantle|1991|p=20}} He was a member of both [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative]] and socialist societies at Oxford, and through that he had his first dealings with the young [[Margaret Thatcher]] (then Margaret Roberts), a relationship which was to prove pivotal during his archiepiscopate.

==Ordained ministry==
Runcie studied for [[ordination]] at [[Westcott House, Cambridge]], where he received a diploma rather than a second [[bachelor's degree]] in [[theology]]. He was made deacon in [[Advent]] 1950<ref>{{Church Times |title=Advent ordinations |archive=1950_12_29_948 |issue=4586 |date=29 December 1950 |page=948 |accessed=10 October 2019}}</ref> and ordained priest the following Advent, both times by [[Noel Hudson]], [[Bishop of Newcastle (England)|Bishop of Newcastle]], at [[Newcastle Cathedral]],<ref>{{Church Times |title=Advent ordinations |archive=1952_01_04_012 |issue=4639 |date=4 January 1952 |page=12 |accessed=10 October 2019}}</ref> to serve as a [[curate]] in the parish of All Saints in the wealthy [[Newcastle upon Tyne]] suburb of [[Gosforth]], then a rapidly growing suburban area. Rather than the conventional minimum three-year curacy, after two years Runcie was invited to return to Westcott House as chaplain and, later, vice-principal.{{sfn|Hastings|1991|p=17}} In 1956 he was elected fellow and dean of [[Trinity Hall, Cambridge]],{{sfn|Hastings|1991|p=17}} where he met his future wife, [[Rosalind Runcie|Rosalind]], the daughter of the college bursar.

In 1960, he returned to the world of the theological college, becoming principal of [[Ripon College Cuddesdon|Cuddesdon College]], near Oxford, and vicar of the local parish church ([[Church of All Saints, Cuddesdon]]). He spent 10 years there and transformed what had been a rather monastic and traditionally [[Anglo-Catholic]] institution into a stronghold of the [[Liberal Anglo-Catholicism|liberal Catholic]] tradition of the Church of England. In this period, his name became more and more strongly spoken of as a future bishop, and speculation was confirmed when he was appointed [[Bishop of St Albans]] in 1970. He was duly consecrated a bishop on 24 February 1970 by [[Michael Ramsey]], the then [[Archbishop of Canterbury]], at [[Westminster Abbey]].<ref>{{Church Times |title=picture caption |archive=1970_02_27_001 |issue=5585 |date=27 February 1970 |page=1 |accessed=10 October 2019}}</ref>

Like Gosforth in the 1950s, the [[Diocese of St Albans]] was a booming suburban area, popular with families moving out of a depopulating London. As well as diocesan work, he worked with [[Broadcasting|broadcasters]] as chairman of the Central Religious Advisory Committee, and was appointed chairman of the joint Anglican–[[Eastern Orthodox|Orthodox]] Commission.

===Archbishop of Canterbury===
Runcie was selected as Archbishop of Canterbury in 1979, as [[Donald Coggan]] approached his retirement from the see.{{sfn|Mantle|1991|p=112}} There is evidence that Runcie was the second choice of the [[Crown Appointments Commission]], the first choice, [[Hugh Montefiore]], having proven politically unacceptable to the then newly elected Conservative government. He was installed as archbishop on 25 March 1980.<ref>{{cite news |title=Thatcher Wanted Church to Relent on Budget Day Clash |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-12017972 |access-date=6 September 2015 |work=BBC News |date=30 December 2010}}</ref>

During his time as Archbishop of Canterbury he witnessed a breaking down of traditionally convivial relations between the Church of England – which had often been described as "the Tory party at prayer" – and the [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative (i.e. Tory) Party]]. The breakdown was due mainly to the church's pronouncements on political matters and [[Margaret Thatcher]]'s support for the ethos of individualism and wealth creation as well as her words in 1987 which were misquoted as a claim that "there is no such thing as society" (although her exact words, from a magazine interview, were "who is 'society'? There is no such thing!"<ref>{{cite web|title=Interview for ''Woman's Own'' ('no such thing as society') with journalist Douglas Keay|date=23 September 1987|url=http://www.margaretthatcher.org/speeches/displaydocument.asp?docid=106689|publisher=Margaret Thatcher Foundation|access-date=10 April 2007|archive-date=27 April 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060427052051/http://www.margaretthatcher.org/speeches/displaydocument.asp?docid=106689|url-status=live}}</ref>), which some Anglicans thought was uncaring and anti-Christian.{{citation needed|date=April 2013}}

In 1981, Runcie officiated at the marriage of [[Charles III|Charles, Prince of Wales]], to Lady [[Diana, Princess of Wales|Diana Spencer]].

Runcie attempted to give a service at [[Church of Our Lady and Saint Nicholas, Liverpool|St Nicholas's Parish Church]] in Liverpool on 11 March 1982, but was heckled by people upset about the [[1982 visit by Pope John Paul II to the United Kingdom|Pope's prospective visit to Britain]]. They shouted that Runcie was a traitor, a liar and was a traitor to the Church of England. After interruptions of the service, Runcie asked the congregation to heed chapter five of St Matthew's Gospel (the Sermon on the Mount), telling them "For they are the words of Jesus himself". The crowd replied: "You had better read your Bible yourself. You are a traitor and a Judas." Outside, demonstrators held placards with the inscriptions "Rome Rules Runcie", "Our Faith Our Bible", "Revive Reformation", "Calvary not Popery" and "Jesus What More". Afterwards, Runcie said: "I am trying my best to find forgiveness for them, but it is very upsetting."<ref>{{cite news|title=Runcie abandons service amid jeers|date=12 March 1982|work=The Times|page=1|location=London}}</ref> Cardinal [[Basil Hume]] called the demonstration "particularly abhorrent and a scandal".<ref>''The Times''. 15 March 1982. p. 2.</ref>

On 17 March 1982, Runcie gave a speech to the [[National Society for Promoting Religious Education]] in which he said that Christianity should play a crucial part in the religious education of all pupils, even if they were non-Christian: "While recognising that a truly pluralistic society should not merely tolerate diversity but value and nurture it, I must also express the fear that at times we seem tempted to sacrifice too much of our native Christian tradition on the altar of multi-culturalism."<ref>{{cite news|title=Runcie attacks changes in school religion|last=Geddes|first=Diana|date=18 March 1982|work=The Times|page=3|location=London}}</ref>

In a gesture of goodwill, he knelt in prayer with [[Pope John Paul II]] in [[Canterbury Cathedral]] during John Paul's visit to the [[United Kingdom]] in 1982.

On 18 April 1982, Runcie said in an interview with [[London Weekend Television]] that he hoped the Church of England and the Roman Catholic Church would be unified by 2000: "I dream of unity with Rome, and with the great Reform tradition and with the Orthodox, by the end of the century, but we will have to get a move on, certainly, if that is our target. I don't see why we should not have that target." Runcie said of the office of Pope: "There is advantage in having a central focus of affection, even a central spokesman to articulate what the churches in different parts of the world are thinking. I think Anglicans recognise that there is value in that sort of concept". He also played down the Queen's role as Supreme Governor of the Church of England:
{{blockquote|Our entanglement with Crown and Parliament is not very considerable now. The Queen's position in the life of our church is very much a symbolic position. She is, as it were, a chief lay person in our church rather than somebody who has a decisive voice in all our appointments.<ref>''The Times''. 19 April 1982. p. 10.</ref>}}

In 1985, there was friction between the Church of England and members of the Conservative government, in particular [[Norman Tebbit]], over a church report, ''[[Faith in the City]]'', which criticised the government's handling of social problems in British inner-city areas. Tebbit became a strong supporter of the [[disestablishment]] of the Church of England, claiming that institutions affiliated to the British state should not express what he saw as overtly partisan political views.{{citation needed|date=February 2022}}

Much of the middle period of Runcie's archiepiscopate was taken up with the tribulations of two men who had been close to him: the suicide of [[Gareth Bennett (priest)|Gareth Bennett]] and the kidnapping of [[Terry Waite]].

When Runcie visited Pope John Paul II in 1989, he set out to reconcile the Church of England with the [[Roman Catholic Church|Church of Rome]]. Runcie advocated the papacy as having a "primacy of honour" rather than "primacy of jurisdiction" over the Anglican churches, a proposal consistent with the report of the [[Anglican–Roman Catholic International Commission]]. The Pope did not go along with this, however, claiming that the papacy already has primacy of jurisdiction over all other churches regardless of whether or not this is officially recognised and also that the doctrines of the Roman Catholic Church would not change to accommodate Runcie's proposals.{{Citation needed|date=October 2008}}

In internal Anglican matters, much of Runcie's time as archbishop was taken up with the debate over whether to proceed with the [[Ordination of women#Anglican|ordination of women]] in the Church of England as well as the fallout from the ordination of women as priests and bishops in other parts of the Anglican Communion. Runcie's position on the matter had been described as "nailing his colours firmly to the fence"{{citation needed|date=April 2013}} – his liberal theology conflicting with his instinctive conservatism.

The church's attitude to [[Anglican views of homosexuality|homosexuality]] was also a divisive issue during this period, although it did not assume the crisis proportions it would in the late 1990s and early 2000s. In public Runcie stuck to official Church of England policy, as set out in the publication ''[[Issues in Human Sexuality]]'', that homosexual practice was not ideal for lay people and unacceptable for clergy.

== Retirement and death ==
[[File:Robert-runcie-grave.jpg|thumb|upright|Runcie's grave at [[St Albans Cathedral]]]]

Runcie retired as Archbishop of Canterbury effective 31 January 1991.<ref>{{cite news |date=18 January 1991 |title=Runcie Retires at Synod |url=http://archive.catholicherald.co.uk/article/18th-january-1991/3/runcie-retires-at-synod |url-status=dead |newspaper=Catholic Herald |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120425050351/http://archive.catholicherald.co.uk/article/18th-january-1991/3/runcie-retires-at-synod |archive-date=25 April 2012}}</ref> On 1 February, he was created a [[life peer]] – gazetted on 7 February as '''Baron Runcie''', ''of [[Cuddesdon]] in the County of [[Oxfordshire]]''<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=52443 |date=7 February 1991 |page=1993 }}</ref> – enabling him to immediately re-enter the [[House of Lords]] where he had previously sat as a [[Lords Spiritual|Lord Spiritual]]. He died of cancer in [[City and District of St Albans|St Albans]] in 2000,<ref name="ODNB">{{Cite ODNB|id=74402|title=Runcie, Robert Alexander Kennedy, Baron Runcie (1921–2000)}}</ref> and is buried in the grounds of [[St Albans Cathedral]].

==Family==
Runcie's wife, [[Rosalind Runcie|Rosalind]], whom he married on 5 September 1957, was well-known as a pianist. They had two children: [[James Runcie]], a novelist, and Rebecca Runcie. Rosalind Runcie died on 12 January 2012.

==Arms==
{{Infobox COA wide
|image = [[File:Coronet of a British Baron.svg|centre|150px]] [[File:Runcie Escutcheon.png|centre|200px]]
|escutcheon = Argent on a Fess Sable between three Roses Gules barbed and seeded proper as many Crosses Patonce also Argent
|coronet = Coronet of a Baron
|crest = A Horse statant Argent crined maned unguled and the tail Sable gorged with a Chaplet of Roses Gules barbed and seeded proper resting the dexter foreleg upon a Millrind Gold<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.cracroftspeerage.co.uk/lp1958%20r.htm |title=Life Peerages - R |website=Cracroft's Peerage}}</ref>}}

== See also ==
* [[Richard Chartres]], Bishop of London from 1995 to 2017, who was Runcie's chaplain in the 1970s and 1980s at both St Albans and subsequently Canterbury

==References==
{{reflist}}

===Works cited===
{{refbegin|indent=yes}}
* {{cite book |last=Carpenter |first=Humphrey |author-link=Humphrey Carpenter |title=Robert Runcie: The Reluctant Archbishop |publisher=Hodder & Stoughton |location=London |year=1996 |isbn=978-0-340-57107-1 }}
* {{cite book |last = Hastings |first = Adrian |author-link = Adrian Hastings |title = Robert Runcie |publisher = Mowbray |location = London |year = 1991 |isbn = 978-0-264-67209-0 }}
* {{cite book |last = Mantle |first = Jonathan |title = Archbishop: The Life and Times of Robert Runcie |publisher = Sinclair-Stevenson |location = London |year = 1991 |isbn = 978-1-85619-058-9 }}
* {{cite book |editor-last = Platten |editor-first = Stephen |editor-link = Stephen Platten |title = Runcie: On Reflection |publisher = Canterbury Press |location = Norwich, England |year = 2002 |isbn = 978-1-85311-470-0 }}
{{refend}}

==External links==
{{commonscat}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20071008153114/http://archive.thisisthenortheast.co.uk/2000/7/12/196632.html/ A Bishop Who Rocked the Boat]
* {{NPG name}}
* [http://archives.lambethpalacelibrary.org.uk/calmview/Record.aspx?src=CalmView.Catalog&id=runcie Archbishop Runcie's papers at Lambeth Palace Library]

{{S-start}}
{{S-rel|en}}
{{S-bef|before=[[Michael Gresford Jones]]}}
{{S-ttl|title=[[Bishop of St Albans]]|years=1970–1980}}
{{S-aft|after=[[John Taylor (bishop of St Albans)|John Taylor]]}}
{{S-bef|before=[[Donald Coggan]]}}
{{S-ttl|title=[[Archbishop of Canterbury]]|years=1980–1991}}
{{S-aft|after=[[George Carey]]}}
{{S-aca}}
{{S-bef|before=[[Edward Knapp-Fisher]]}}
{{S-ttl|title=Principal of [[Ripon College Cuddesdon|Cuddesdon College]]|years=1960–1970}}
{{S-aft|after=[[Leslie Houlden]]|as=Principal of<br />[[Ripon College Cuddesdon]]}}
{{S-end}}
{{Archbishops of Canterbury}}
{{portalbar|Christianity|Biography}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Runcie, Robert}}
[[Category:1921 births]]
[[Category:2000 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century Anglican archbishops]]
[[Category:English people of Scottish descent]]
[[Category:Alumni of Brasenose College, Oxford]]
[[Category:Alumni of Westcott House, Cambridge]]
[[Category:Anglo-Catholic bishops]]
[[Category:Archbishops of Canterbury]]
[[Category:Bishops of St Albans]]
[[Category:British Army personnel of World War II]]
[[Category:Deaths from cancer in England]]
[[Category:Crossbench life peers|Runcie, Robert Runcie, Baron]]
[[Category:Deans of Trinity Hall, Cambridge]]
[[Category:English Anglo-Catholics]]
[[Category:Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:People educated at Merchant Taylors' Boys' School, Crosby]]
[[Category:Ordained peers|Runcie, Robert Runcie, Baron]]
[[Category:People from Crosby, Merseyside]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Military Cross]]
[[Category:Scots Guards officers]]
[[Category:Tank personnel]]
[[Category:Military personnel from Birkenhead]]
[[Category:Clergy from Liverpool]]
[[Category:Burials at St Albans Cathedral]]
[[Category:Staff of Westcott House, Cambridge]]
[[Category:20th-century English Anglican priests]]
[[Category:Staff of Ripon College Cuddesdon]]
[[Category:Life peers created by Elizabeth II]]
[[Category:Presidents of the Classical Association]]
[[Category:Bergen-Belsen concentration camp]]
[[Category:Military personnel from Merseyside]]

Robert Runcie - Revision history

imported>AdaumFitzawitt18 at 09:20, 10 November 2025