Guli Francis-Dehqani


Gulnar Eleanor "Guli" Francis-Dehqani is an Iranian-born British Anglican bishop. She served the Diocese of Peterborough as Curate Training Officer from 2012 to 2017 and Advisor for Women's Ministry from 2013 to 2017. On 11 July 2017, it was announced that she had been appointed the first Bishop of Loughborough, the sole suffragan bishop in the Diocese of Leicester. She was consecrated as bishop on 30 November 2017.

Early life and education

Guli Dehqani-Tafti was born in Isfahan, Iran in 1966, where her father Hassan Dehqani-Tafti lived as Bishop in Iran. When she was 14, her family was forced to leave the country in the wake of the Iranian Revolution; the family settled in Hampshire, where Hassan remained Bishop in exile. She studied music at the University of Nottingham, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1989. She studied theology at the University of Bristol, graduating with a Master of Arts degree in 1994 and a Doctor of Philosophy in 1999. Her doctoral thesis was titled "Religious feminism in an age of empire: CMS women missionaries in Iran, 18691934". From 1995 to 1998, she trained for ordination at the South East Institute of Theological Education.

Ordained ministry

Francis-Dehqani was ordained in the Church of England as a deacon at Michaelmas 1998 by Tom Butler, Bishop of Southwark, at Southwark Cathedral. She was ordained a priest the following Michaelmas by Wilfred Wood, Bishop of Croydon, at All Saints', Kingston-upon-Thames. From 1998 to 2002, she served her curacy at St Mary the Virgin, Mortlake with East Sheen in the Diocese of Southwark. Then, from 2002 to 2004, she was a chaplain to the Royal Academy of Music and to St Marylebone C of E School. In 2004, she stepped down from full-time ministry to raise her children. From 2004 to 2011, she held Permission to Officiate in the Diocese of Peterborough. She also worked at the University of Northampton Multi-Faith Chaplaincy between 2009 and 2010 "helping the chaplaincy team develop a more effective multi-faith approach".
In 2011, Francis-Dehqani returned to full-time ministry, having been appointed Curate Training Officer for the Diocese of Peterborough. She was additionally appointed the diocese's Adviser for Women's Ministry in 2012. Since 2013, she has been a Member of the General Synod. She was made an honorary canon of Peterborough Cathedral in November 2016.

Episcopal ministry

On 11 July 2017, it was announced that Francis-Dehqani would become the first Bishop of Loughborough, the suffragan bishop of the Diocese of Leicester. In addition to her suffragan duties, she will also have "a focus on supporting Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic clergy, lay workers and congregations" within the diocese. She was consecrated a bishop during a service at Canterbury Cathedral on 30 November 2017. This made her the first BAME woman to be made a bishop in the Church of England.

Personal life

Francis-Dehqani's father Hassan Dehqani-Tafti was the Anglican Bishop of Iran from 1961 until his retirement in 1990, serving also as President Bishop of the Episcopal Church in Jerusalem and the Middle East, 1976–1986. Her mother Margaret was a daughter of William Thompson. After the Iranian Revolution, her mother was wounded in an assassination attempt in October 1979, and her 24-year-old brother, Bahram, was murdered by Iranian government agents in May 1980.
She is married to Lee Francis-Dehqani, a fellow Anglican priest and canon: at the time of her appointment as bishop he was serving as Team Rector of Oakham and Rural Dean of Rutland and in 2018 was appointed Team Rector of the Fosse Team in Leicester Diocese. Together they have three children.