In 1982, Hudson-Wilkin travelled to the UK and settled in the
West Midlands where she studied at the
Church Army college. From 1991 to 1994, she served as the deacon of
St Matthew's Church, Wolverhampton. She was ordained a
priest on 23 April 1994 (by Bishop Sutton, at Lichfield Cathedral), in the first few weeks that the Church of England
ordained women to the priesthood. Remaining at St Matthew's Church, she served her
curacy from 1994 to 1995. From 1995 to 1998, she was assistant curate of
St Andrew's Church, West Bromwich. During this time, she also worked with the Committee on Black Anglican Concern. It has since been replaced by the Committee for Minority Ethnic Anglican Concerns. In 1998, she took up the role as
vicar of
Holy Trinity Church, Dalston, and
All Saints Church, Haggerston, an inner-city parish in
Hackney, London. In October 2014, it was announced that she was to become
priest-in-charge of
St Mary-at-Hill in the
City of London. She moved to her new parish in November 2014, while maintaining her additional appointments. From November 2014, Hudson-Wilkin was priest-in-charge of St Mary-at-Hill in the City of London, On 28 June 2019, she was announced as the next
Bishop of Dover, to run the
diocese of Canterbury on behalf of the
archbishop of Canterbury. On 19 May 2018, she was one of several
religious leaders to lead prayers at the
wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in
St George's Chapel, Windsor.
Bishop of Dover On 28 June 2019, it was announced that Hudson-Wilkin was to become
Bishop suffragan of Dover. As a
suffragan bishop, the bishop of Dover has authority delegated by the
archbishop of Canterbury to oversee the
diocese of Canterbury on behalf of the
diocesan bishop as Bishop in Canterbury. She took up her
see immediately before her
consecration, which was scheduled for 19 November 2019 at
St Paul's Cathedral. Press coverage of the announcement noted that she would be the first black woman to become a Church of England bishop;
Guli Francis-Dehqani was the first ethnic minority woman to become a bishop, in 2017. On 19 November 2019, Hudson-Wilkin was consecrated a
bishop by
Archbishop Justin Welby at
St Paul's Cathedral. She was
installed as Bishop of Dover during a service at
Canterbury Cathedral on 30 November 2019. Hudson-Wilkin was appointed
Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the
2020 New Year Honours for "services to young people and the Church", having received the
Order of Distinction (CD) from the Jamaican Government in 2019. She was also listed in the
2020 and
2021 Powerlist of the 100 most influential people in the UK of African/African-Caribbean descent. On 6 February 2023, she was appointed an
Honorary Bencher of
Lincoln's Inn and, on 23 March 2023, she gave the
Haberdashers' Golden Lecture at
St Bartholomew-the-Less Church in the City of London. In May 2023, she took part in the
Coronation, one of three female bishops to do so. She officiated at the funeral of William Brown, a seven-year-old boy who was killed in a suspected hit-and-run crash, at
St Mary and St Eanswythe's Church in Folkestone, within her episcopal jurisdiction. == Public attention ==