Gavin Ashendenen, the Anglo-Catholic priest who was a chaplain to the Queen from 2008 until he resigned earlier this year, was consecrated a bishop in 2013 while he was still a chaplain to the Queen, Christian Today can reveal.
Ashenden was consecrated in secret as a missionary bishop to the UK by Archbishop Theodore Casimes of the Christian Episcopal Church, which is not part of the Anglican Communion.
Although the consecration was announced earlier this month by Archbishop Casimes, in fact it took place four years ago, a year after he ended his 20 years service as a member of the General Synod of the Church of England and after he took a post-retirement post at St Martin de Gouray in Gorey, Jersey.
He currently lives in Shropshire and resigned his orders this year as a Church of England priest in protest at what he sees as the church’s liberalising trend. Earlier, he had left his post as Queen’s chaplain in January following a row over a Quran reading in Glasgow Cathedral.