Gavin Roy Pelham Ashenden (born 3 June 1954) is a British Catholic layman, author and commentator, and Associate Editor of the Catholic Herald. Formerly a priest of the Church of England, and subsequently a continuing Anglican bishop. He was appointed Chaplain to the Queen from 2008 until his resignation in 2017. Early life and education Ashenden was born on 3 June 1954 in London, England, the son of Michael Roy Edward Ashenden and Carol Ashenden (née Simpson, now Salmon). He was educated at Rokeby Preparatory School and as a music scholar at The King's School, Canterbury. He graduated from the University of Bristol, with a degree in law. He trained for the Anglican priesthood at Oak Hill Theological College, where he read for a Bachelor of Arts degree in theology. Whilst at Oak Hill he was also sent as part of his training to the Greek Orthodox Patriarchal Stavropegic Monastery of St. John the Baptist in Tolleshunt Knights, Essex, where he came under the influence of Archimandrite Sophrony (Sakharov). Ashenden engaged in postgraduate work at Heythrop College at the University of London with a Master of Theology degree on the psychology of religion. Whilst a chaplain and member of faculty at the University of Sussex, he completed a doctorate on the life and work of Charles Williams (1999). He published Alchemy and Integration, a study of Williams' work in 2007, which was reviewed by the Archbishop Rowan Williams in the Times Literary Supplement. In 2009 he contributed to 'Charles Williams and His Contemporaries', and in 2012 'Persona & Paradox-Issues of identity for CS Lewis' Ministry and other positions Ashenden was ordained at Southwark Cathedral in 1980 and served as a parish priest for 10 years in the Diocese of Southwark, firstly at St James's Bermondsey and then as vicar of Hamsey Green in Sanderstead. Between 1989 and 2012 he held the post of university chaplain and senior lecturer in the Department of English at the University of Sussex where he lectured in literature and the psychology of religion. He was appointed a senior officer of the university in 1994. He convened and taught the MA programme "Monotheism and Mysticism in Critical Theology". From 1995 to 2003 he also lectured in systematic theology at the University of Brighton. From 1991-2010 he was also a part time chaplain at Roedean. He was appointed firstly as a canon of Chichester Cathedral in 2003,