The confirmation that the 56-year-old is the choice to take over as head of the established Church comes after months of tortured deliberations and less than a year after Dr Welby took up his first appointment as a bishop.
The long delay – Dr Welby has been widely named as the leading contender for the job for the past three months – has led to charges that the leadership of the CofE is hopelessly divided.
It has even exposed the Church to mockery from bookmakers who stopped taking bets over the appointment, saying they were worried that clerics are trying to stage a betting coup.