Rowan Douglas Williams, Baron Williams of Oystermouth, PC, FBA, FRSL, FLSW is a Welsh Anglican bishop, theologian and poet. He was the 104th Archbishop of Canterbury, a position he held from December 2002 to December 2012. Previously the Bishop of Monmouth and Archbishop of Wales, Williams was the first Archbishop of Canterbury in modern times not to be appointed from within the Church of England.

Williams was born on 14 June 1950 in Swansea, Wales, into a Welsh-speaking family. He was the only child of Aneurin Williams and his wife Nancy Delphine (known as "Del") Williams (née Morris) – Presbyterians who became Anglicans in 1961. He was educated at the state sector Dynevor School, Swansea, before reading theology at Christ's College, Cambridge, whence he graduated with starred first-class honours. He then went to Wadham College, Oxford, where he studied under A. M. Allchin and graduated with a Doctor of Philosophy degree in 1975 with a thesis entitled The Theology of Vladimir Nikolaievich Lossky: An Exposition and Critique.