Clifford Dupont, English-Rhodesian lawyer and politician, 1st President of Rhodesia (born 1905)

Clifford Dupont
Clifford Walter Dupont was a British-born Rhodesian politician who served in the internationally unrecognised positions of officer administrating the government and president. Born in London and qualifying as a solicitor, Dupont served during the Second World War as an officer of the British Royal Artillery in North Africa before first visiting Southern Rhodesia in 1947. He returned a year later, started a ranch and emigrated full-time during the early 1950s, by which time the country had become a territory of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland.
President of Rhodesia
The president of Rhodesia was the head of state of Rhodesia from 1970 to 1979. As Rhodesia reckoned itself a parliamentary republic rather than a presidential republic at the time, the president's post was almost entirely ceremonial, and the real power continued to be vested in Rhodesia's prime minister, Ian Smith. Two individuals held the office of president, while two others served as acting presidents. Most were of British descent, but Clifford Dupont, the longest-serving, was of Huguenot stock.