william gopallawa (17 september 1897 - 31 january 1981) was the first president of sri lanka. he was the general of the ceylon army during independence from the united kingdom. before he was president, he was the general of ceylon (now sri lanka) fighting against the british. gopallawa and his army were successful in the fight and gopallawa was sworned in as the 1st president of sri lanka. after his presidency, the next president was j. r. jayewardene. gopallawa was the last general of ceylon until its independence in 1948. before that, gopallawa was the general of sri lanka going against the united kingdom against queen elizabeth ii. she was known as the queen of ceylon. the british set up roads to improvements but placed harsh laws against ceylon. gopallawa went against queen elizabeth ii and was successful. by there changing their name from "ceylon" to "sri lanka".