St Edmundsbury Cathedral in Bury St Edmunds announces senior UK diplomat Dame Barbara Woodward as Edmund Lecturer

St Edmundsbury Cathedral has announced a top UK diplomat as this year’s Edmund Lecturer.

Dame Barbara Woodward, the British permanent representative to the United Nations (UN), will deliver the annual address on October 20.

Her talk will focus on the parallels between the Magna Carta and the UN Charter.

The cathedral is built on the site of Bury St Edmunds Abbey, which hosted a 1214 meeting between the barons of England.

Here, the barons agreed to impose the Magna Carta on King John, marking a pivotal moment in English constitutional history.

The lecture was revived last year for the 1,000th anniversary of the abbey’s establishment.

The Revd Canon Michael Robinson, canon theologian at St Edmundsbury Cathedral, said: “We’re thrilled to welcome Dame Barbara Woodward to the cathedral to explore these historically significant and highly relevant issues for our society today.

“Everyone is warmly invited to the cathedral to hear Dame Barbara’s lecture which will undoubtedly be a rich and thought-provoking talk.”

Tickets for the lecture can be booked online.