Many of the presidents of the French Republic have borne arms, either through inheritance or via membership in foreign orders of chivalry, particularly the Swedish Royal Order of the Seraphim and the Danish Order of the Elephant,the Spanish orders of Charles III and the Order of the Golden Fleece, and the Papal Supreme Order of Christ.
Arms or emblem | Name of president and blazon |
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Charles Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte, President of the French Republic from 1848 to 1852. Azure an Eagle displayed head to the sinister Or, holding in its talons a thunderbolt also Or. Crest: The Imperial Crown of France Or | |
Adolphe Thiers, President of the French Republic from 1871 to 1873.
No motto. As a Knight of the Spanish Order of the Golden Fleece he bore the crest: Three Ostrich feathers Azure, Or and Azure Torse: Or and Azure Mantling: Or lined Azure | |
Patrice de MacMahon, Duke of Magenta, President of the French Republic from 1873 to 1879. Ancestral arms: Argent, three Lions passant regardant in pale Gules Crest: an arm clutching a sword Mantling: Argent lined Gules Motto: Sic Nos Sic Sacra Tuemur (Latin for "Thus We Defend Our Sacred Rights") | |
Jules Grévy, President of the French Republic from 1879 to 1887. On appointment as a Knight of the Swedish Order of the Seraphim, he did not specify what arms he wanted for his stall plate. Therefore, his stall plate shows an unpainted shield. | |
Marie François Sadi Carnot, President of the French Republic, 1887-1894. Ancestral arms: Azure, three Martlets, and in chief a Mullet, all Argent Supporters: Two lions Gules Motto: 'Honneur, Loyauté, Devoir' (French: 'Honour, Loyalty, Duty') | |
Jean Casimir-Perier, President of the French Republic, 1894-1895. Ancestral arms: Azure, a Bend Or, in dexter chief a Lion's head erased Argent crowned Or As a Knight of the Spanish Order of Charles III, he used the crest: Four ostrich feathers Azure, Or, Argent and Azure Torse: Or, Argent and Azure Mantling: Or lined per pale Azure and Argent | |
Félix Faure, President of the French Republic, 1895-1899. Azure, a Cipher composed of two letter Fs in saltire Or
Three ostrich feathers Azure, Or and Azure Torse: Or and Azure Mantling: Or lined Azure | |
Émile Loubet, President of the French Republic from 1899 to 1906. Assumed on his induction into the Order of the Seraphim: Azure, a branch of Laurel surmounted by a Cipher composed of the letters E&L Or Motto: Virtute et labore (Latin: "virtue and work") As a Knight of the Spanish branch of the Order of the Golden Fleece; he used the crest: As a Knight of the Spanish Order of Charles III, he used the crest: Three ostrich feathers Azure, Or and Azure Torse: Or and Azure Mantling: Or lined Azure | |
Armand Fallières, President of the French Republic from 1906 to 1913. Assumed on his induction into the Order of the Seraphim: Azure, a Cipher composed of the letters A&F Or Motto: l'homme ne vaut que par le bien qu'il fait (French: "we are judged by our deeds")[ citation needed ] As a Knight of the Spanish Order of Charles III, his arms were instead: Azure, a cypher consisting of the letters A and two Fs conjoined all Or and used the crest: Three ostrich feathers Or, Azure and Or. Torse: Or and Azure Mantling: Or lined Azure | |
Raymond Poincaré, President of the French Republic from 1913 to 1920. Assumed on his induction into the Order of the Seraphim: Azure, a Cipher composed of the letters R&P Or As a Knight of the Spanish branch of the Order of the Golden Fleece; he used the crest: Three ostrich feathers Azure, Or and Azure Torse: Or and Azure Mantling: Or lined Azure | |
Paul Deschanel, President of the French Republic in 1920. Argent an oval Azure charged with a branch of olive and a branch of oak in Saltire charged with a fasces per pale and a ribbon with the motto LIBERTE EGALITE FRATERNITE all Or | |
Alexandre Millerand, President of the French Republic from 1920 to 1924. Argent an oval Azure charged with a branch of olive and a branch of oak in Saltire charged with a fasces per pale and a ribbon with the motto LIBERTE EGALITE FRATERNITE all Or | |
Gaston Doumergue, President of the French Republic from 1924 to 1931. Azure, a Cipher composed of the letters G&D Or As a Knight of the Spanish Order Three ostrich feathers Or and Azure Torse: Or and Azure Mantling: Or lined Azure | |
Paul Doumer, President of the French Republic in 1931. Argent an oval Azure charged with a branch of olive and a branch of oak in Saltire charged with a fasces per pale and a ribbon with the motto LIBERTE EGALITE FRATERNITE all Or | |
Albert Lebrun, President of the French Republic, 1931-1940. No arms known. | |
Vincent Auriol, President of the French Republic, 1947-1954. Azure, a branch of Olive and a branch of Oak in Saltire charged with a fasces per pale and a ribbon with the motto LIBERTE EGALITE FRATERNITE all Or
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Rene Coty, President of the French Republic, 1954-1959. Azure, a branch of Olive and a branch of Oak in Saltire charged with a fasces per pale and a ribbon with the motto LIBERTE EGALITE FRATERNITE all Or as Knights of the Order of Christ:
| |
Charles de Gaulle, President of the French Republic, 1959-1969. Ancestral arms: Tierced in fess Argent, Gules, and Azure, the Argent charged with three oak galls Gules slipped and leaved Vert, the Azure charged with three trefoils slipped Or. Assumed on him being admitted to the Order of the Seraphim on 8 May 1963: Per pale Azure and Gules, on a Pale Argent a Patriarchal Cross of the Second Motto: France Libre (French for Free France) | |
Georges Pompidou, President of the French Republic, 1969-1974. No arms known | |
Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, President of the French Republic, 1974-1981. Assumed on him being admitted to the Order of the Seraphim on 6 June 1980: Azure a Fasces Or bindings Argent between two Laurel sprigs disposed orleways of the second and bound together in base by a ribbon of the third. No motto.
Torse: Or, Argent and Azure Mantling: Or lined per pale Azure and Argent | |
François Mitterrand, President of the French Republic from 1981 to 1995. May have been related to an armigerous family. Assumed on his being admitted to the Order of the Seraphim: Azure, a Tree eradicated Or No motto. As a Knight of the Spanish Order of Isabel the Catholic; he uses the crest: A tree Or Torse: Or and Azure Mantling: Or lined Azure | |
Jacques Chirac, President of the French Republic, 1995-2007. Admitted to the Order of the Seraphim on 10 April 2000. His stallplate as a Knight of the Order of the Seraphim shows the emblem of the French Republic: Or, the letters R and F conjoined Or Supporter: A fasces Or -all surrounded by to the dexter, a sprig of laurel Or, and to the sinister, a sprig of oak Or, and the Collar of the Order of the Seraphim. No motto. | |
Nicolas Sarkozy, President of the French Republic, 2007-2012. Ancestral arms: Gules, on a Mount Vert a Wolf rampant Proper, holding in its dexter paw a Sabre Or Crest: A Wolf rampant Proper, holding in its dexter paw a Sabre Or Torse: Or, Azure and Gules Mantling: to the dexter, Or lined Azure, and to the sinister, Or lined Gules. No motto. | |
François Hollande, President of the French Republic, 2012–2017. His stallplate as a Knight of the Order of the Seraphim shows a similar representation to that of former President Chirac; with differences:
Supporter: A fasces Argent -all surrounded by to the dexter, a sprig of laurel Azure, and to the sinister, a sprig of oak Gules, and the Collar of the Order of the Seraphim. No motto. | |
Emmanuel Macron, President of the French Republic, 2017–present. No arms known. |
A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state or representative for service to the monarch, the church or the country, especially in a military capacity.
The British honours system is a means of rewarding individuals' personal bravery, achievement, or service to the United Kingdom and the British Overseas Territories. The system consists of three types of award – honours, decorations and medals:
In biological classification, the order is
A religious order is a lineage of communities and organizations of people who live in some way set apart from society in accordance with their specific religious devotion, usually characterized by the principles of its founder's religious practice. The order is composed of laypeople and, in some orders, clergy. Religious orders exist in many of the world's religions.
An Order in Council is a type of legislation in many countries, especially the Commonwealth realms. In the United Kingdom this legislation is formally made in the name of the monarch by and with the advice and consent of the Privy Council (Queen-in-Council), but in other countries the terminology may vary. The term should not be confused with Order of Council, which is made in the name of the Council without royal assent.
An executive order is a means of issuing federal directives in the United States, used by the president of the United States, that manages operations of the federal government. The legal or constitutional basis for executive orders has multiple sources. Article Two of the United States Constitution gives the president broad executive and enforcement authority to use their discretion to determine how to enforce the law or to otherwise manage the resources and staff of the executive branch. The ability to make such orders is also based on expressed or implied Acts of Congress that delegate to the president some degree of discretionary power.
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established on 4 June 1917 by King George V and comprises five classes across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two of which make the recipient either a knight if male or dame if female. There is also the related British Empire Medal, whose recipients are affiliated with, but not members of the order.
A restraining order or protective order is an order used by a court to protect a person, object, business, company, state, country, establishment, or entity, and the general public, in a situation involving alleged domestic violence, child abuse, assault, harassment, stalking, or sexual assault. In the United States, every state has some form of domestic violence restraining order law, and many states also have specific restraining order laws for stalking and sexual assault.
A military order is a Christian religious society of knights. The original military orders were the Knights Templar, the Knights Hospitaller, the Order of Saint James, the Order of Calatrava, and the Teutonic Knights. They arose in the Middle Ages in association with the Crusades, both in the Holy Land and in the Iberian peninsula; their members being dedicated to the protection of pilgrims and the defence of the Crusader states. They are the predecessors of chivalric orders.
A friar is a brother and a member of one of the mendicant orders founded in the twelfth or thirteenth century; the term distinguishes the mendicants' itinerant apostolic character, exercised broadly under the jurisdiction of a superior general, from the older monastic orders' allegiance to a single monastery formalized by their vow of stability. The most significant orders of friars are the Dominicans, Franciscans, Augustinians and Carmelites.
The title of Knight Bachelor is the basic rank granted to a man who has been knighted by the monarch but not inducted as a member of one of the organised orders of chivalry; it is a part of the British honours system. Knights Bachelor are the most ancient sort of British knight, but Knights Bachelor rank below knights of chivalric orders. A man who is knighted is formally addressed as "Sir [First Name] [Surname]" or "Sir [First Name]" and his wife as "Lady [Surname]".
In the Catholic Church, a religious order is a community of consecrated life with members that profess solemn vows. According to the 1983 Code of Canon Law, they are classed as a type of religious institute.
An order is a visible honour awarded by a sovereign state, monarch, dynastic royal house or organisation to a person, typically in recognition of individual merit, that often comes with distinctive insignia such as collars, medals, badges, and sashes worn by recipients.
Mendicant orders are, primarily, certain Christian religious orders that have adopted a lifestyle of poverty, traveling, and living in urban areas for purposes of preaching, evangelization, and ministry, especially to the poor. At their foundation these orders rejected the previously established monastic model. This model prescribed living in one stable, isolated community where members worked at a trade and owned property in common, including land, buildings and other wealth. By contrast, the mendicants avoided owning property at all, did not work at a trade, and embraced a poor, often itinerant lifestyle. They depended for their survival on the goodwill of the people to whom they preached.
An order of chivalry, order of knighthood, chivalric order, or equestrian order is an order of knights typically founded during or inspired by the original Catholic military orders of the Crusades, paired with medieval concepts of ideals of chivalry.
Grand Master is a title of the supreme head of various orders, including chivalric orders such as military orders and dynastic orders of knighthood.
Commander, or Knight Commander, is a title of honor prevalent in chivalric orders and fraternal orders.
Prior is an ecclesiastical title for a superior, usually lower in rank than an abbot or abbess. Its earlier generic usage referred to any monastic superior. The word is derived from the Latin for "earlier" or "first".
The Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem, commonly known as the Knights Hospitaller, the Knights of Rhodes, the Knights of Malta, or the Order of Saint John, was a medieval and early modern Catholic military order. It was headquartered in the Kingdom of Jerusalem until 1291, on the island of Rhodes from 1310 until 1522, in Malta from 1530 until 1798 and at Saint Petersburg from 1799 until 1801. Today several organizations continue the Hospitaller tradition, specifically the mutually recognised orders of St. John which are Sovereign Military Order of Malta, the Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of St. John, the Johanniterorden, the Johanniter Orde in Nederland, the Johanniterorden i Sverige.
The orders, decorations, and medals of the Holy See include titles, chivalric orders, distinctions and medals honoured by the Holy See, with the Pope as the fount of honour, for deeds and merits of their recipients to the benefit of the Holy See, the Catholic Church, or their respective communities, societies, nations and the world at large.