{"id":"william-gopallawa","type":"person","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/william-gopallawa","language":"en","name":"William Gopallawa","name_en":"William Gopallawa","name_ne":null,"description":"Sri Lankan President (1897-1981)","headline":"Sri Lankan President (1897-1981)","also_known_as":[],"summary":"William Gopallawa was a Sri Lankan statesman who served as the last Governor-General of Ceylon from 1962 to 1972. That year, Ceylon became a republic, and changed its name to Sri Lanka; he would serve as the first and only non-executive President of Sri Lanka until 1978.","summary_more":[],"facts":[{"key":"born","label":"Born","values":[{"text":"17 September 1897","date":"1897-09-17"}],"source":{"label":"Wikidata","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q205993#P569"}},{"key":"birthplace","label":"Place of birth","values":[{"text":"Matale","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1540498"}],"source":{"label":"Wikidata","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q205993#P19"}},{"key":"died","label":"Died","values":[{"text":"31 January 1981","date":"1981-01-31"}],"source":{"label":"Wikidata","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q205993#P570"}},{"key":"deathplace","label":"Place of death","values":[{"text":"Colombo","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q35381"}],"source":{"label":"Wikidata","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q205993#P20"}},{"key":"citizenship","label":"Citizenship","values":[{"text":"Sri Lanka","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q854"}],"source":{"label":"Wikidata","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q205993#P27"}},{"key":"occupation","label":"Occupation","values":[{"text":"diplomat","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q193391"},{"text":"politician","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q82955"}],"source":{"label":"Wikidata","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q205993#P106"}},{"key":"party","label":"Political party","values":[{"text":"independent politician","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q327591"}],"source":{"label":"Wikidata","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q205993#P102"}},{"key":"education","label":"Education","values":[{"text":"St. Anthony's College, Kandy","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7587057"},{"text":"Christ Church College, Matale","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5108794"}],"source":{"label":"Wikidata","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q205993#P69"}},{"key":"spouse","label":"Spouse","values":[{"text":"Seelawathie Gopallawa","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q76445006"}],"source":{"label":"Wikidata","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q205993#P26"}},{"key":"positions","label":"Positions held","values":[{"text":"Secretary General of the Non-Aligned Movement (16 August 1976 – 4 February 1978)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q15647601","start":"1976-08-16","end":"1978-02-04"},{"text":"President of Sri Lanka (22 May 1972 – 4 February 1978)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2914380","start":"1972-05-22","end":"1978-02-04"},{"text":"ambassador","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q121998"}],"source":{"label":"Wikidata","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q205993#P39"}},{"key":"awards","label":"Awards","values":[{"text":"Member of the Order of the British Empire","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q12201526"}],"source":{"label":"Wikidata","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q205993#P166"}}],"office":null,"sections":[],"cited":[],"cited_from":null,"videos":[],"last_reviewed":null,"organizations":[],"same_as":["https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Gopallawa","https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q205993"],"faq":[{"q":"When was William Gopallawa born?","a":"William Gopallawa was born on 17 September 1897 in Matale."},{"q":"What positions has William Gopallawa held?","a":"Positions held by William Gopallawa include: Secretary General of the Non-Aligned Movement (1976–1978); President of Sri Lanka (1972–1978); ambassador."},{"q":"Where did William Gopallawa study?","a":"William Gopallawa was educated at St. Anthony's College, Kandy, Christ Church College, Matale."}],"related":[{"name":"Mahmoud Ahmadinejad","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/mahmoud-ahmadinejad"},{"name":"Hosni Mubarak","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/hosni-mubarak"},{"name":"Gamal Abdel Nasser","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/gamal-abdel-nasser"},{"name":"Hassan Rouhani","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/hassan-rouhani"},{"name":"Mohamed Morsi","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/mohamed-morsi"},{"name":"Zail Singh","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/zail-singh"},{"name":"Mahinda Rajapaksa","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/mahinda-rajapaksa"},{"name":"J. R. Jayewardene","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/j-r-jayewardene"},{"name":"Ranasinghe Premadasa","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/ranasinghe-premadasa"},{"name":"D. B. Wijetunga","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/d-b-wijetunga"},{"name":"Chandrika Kumaratunga","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/chandrika-kumaratunga"},{"name":"Gotabaya Rajapaksa","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/gotabaya-rajapaksa"}],"places_in":[],"nearby":[],"image":{"url":"https://diginpl.com/kb-img/william-gopallawa-b776224070.jpg","width":500,"height":648,"license":"Public domain","credit":"Abbie Rowe","page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:JFKWHP-AR6771-B_(cropped).jpg"},"sources":[{"label":"Wikipedia (English): William Gopallawa","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Gopallawa","license":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/"},{"label":"Wikidata item Q205993","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q205993","license":"https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/"},{"label":"Image: JFKWHP-AR6771-B (cropped).jpg by Abbie Rowe (Public domain)","url":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:JFKWHP-AR6771-B_(cropped).jpg","license":null}],"license":{"text":"CC BY-SA 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/","facts":"https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/"},"attribution":"Text from the Wikipedia article William Gopallawa, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. This page's text is shared under the same licence. Facts from Wikidata (CC0). Image: JFKWHP-AR6771-B (cropped).jpg — Abbie Rowe, Public domain.","cite":"\"William Gopallawa\". DigiNepal. Last updated 9 November 2026. https://diginpl.com/people/william-gopallawa. Retrieved 10 November 2026.","date_modified":"2026-11-09T06:51:08Z","facts_checked":"2026-11-09","alternates":{"html":"https://diginpl.com/people/william-gopallawa","en":"https://diginpl.com/people/william-gopallawa","ne":null}}