[1] The title takes its name after the town of Dover in Kent.

Among other things, this gives the Bishop of Dover an ex officio seat in the church's General Synod.

[2] The role of the Bishop of Dover in the Diocese of Canterbury is comparable to that of the Cardinal Vicar in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Rome, who exercises most functions that the Pope, the Bishop of Rome, formally has in his own diocese.

The 2001 report To Lead and to Serve recommended making these arrangement more permanent and styling the pseudo–diocesan bishop as "Bishop in Canterbury";[4] that style was already in use before the review.

[5] The current bishop of Dover is Rose Hudson-Wilkin.