In response, the British Parliament passed the Southern Rhodesia Act 1965 which de jure affirmed British control of the colony and granted Queen Elizabeth II the power to act in the colony. She then issued an order in council to suspend the constitution and sacked the Rhodesian Front government. These were ignored in Rhodesia and Prime Minister Ian Smith claimed it was the act of the British government and not of the Queen. The Rhodesian theory believed in the divisibility of the Crown to show their political autonomy. The Rhodesians also ceased to recognise the governor of Southern Rhodesia, Sir Humphrey Gibbs, as the representative of the Queen and asked him to move out of Government House, Salisbury (which Gibbs refused to do). Smith then asked Queen Elizabeth II to appoint a governor-general of Rhodesia to act on her behalf, but she refused as she did not recognise the title and treated the request as if it had come from an ordinary citizen as Smith was no longer recognised as prime minister. Elizabeth issued a response via Gibbs that said: "Her Majesty is not able to entertain purported advice of this kind and has therefore been pleased to direct that no action should be taken upon it".
