Sarah Mullally, the Bishop of London, will be the new Archbishop of Canterbury, the first time a woman has been chosen as the Church of England's spiritual leader.

She was chosen as the spiritual leader of the world's 85 million Anglicans on Oct. 3, to replace Archbishop Justin Welby, who resigned almost a year ago in an announcement by the Church of England.

Born in Woking, England, in 1962, Dame Sarah Mullally is one of four children, with two sisters and one brother, who attended Winston Churchill Comprehensive School and Woking Sixth Form College, not an elite private school.

She became a Christian at the age of 16 and did not receive an elite private school education like many of her predecessors.

Bishop Sarah was educated at South Bank Polytechnic and Heythrop College, University of London, according to the Church of England website.

Originally founded by the Catholic Society of Jesus (the Jesuits) for the study of philosophy and theology, Heythrop was part of the University of London from 1970, until it closed in 2019. 

"Before being ordained, she (Mullally) worked as a nurse in the (UK's) National Health Service, which she has described as "an opportunity to reflect the love of God."

She specialised as a cancer nurse and became a ward sister at Westminster Hospital before being made Director of Nursing at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital.

In 1999, at the age of 37, she was appointed the Government's Chief Nursing Officer for England in the Department of Health.

She was the youngest person ever to be appointed to the post. Bishop Sarah was made a Dame Commander of the British Empire in 2005 in recognition of her outstanding contribution to nursing.

King Charles III approved the nomination of Mullally, as the next Archbishop of Canterbury, according to Vatican News.

The Archbishop of Canterbury is the most senior bishop in the Church of England.

The ministry combines several roles: Diocesan Bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury, Primate of All England and Metropolitan, and primus inter pares (first among equals) among the Primates of the global Anglican Communion.

This includes about 85 million members in 165 countries.

In the House of Lords, Britain's upper chamber of Parliament, the Archbishop of Canterbury is one of 26 bishops who comprise the "Lords Spiritual."

After her appointment was announced, Bishop Sarah said, "As I respond to the call of Christ to this new ministry, I do so in the same spirit of service to God and to others that has motivated me since I first came to faith as a teenager."

Her official election by canons in the Church of England will take place in January, and her installation is scheduled for March 2026.