Jacques René Chirac was a French politician who served as President of France from 1995 to 2007. He was previously Prime Minister of France from 1974 to 1976 and 1986 to 1988, as well as Mayor of Paris from 1977 to 1995.
Máxima is Queen of the Netherlands as the wife of King Willem-Alexander.
Dominique Marie François René Galouzeau de Villepin is a French politician who served as Prime Minister of France from 31 May 2005 to 17 May 2007 under President Jacques Chirac.
Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga is a Latvian politician who served as the sixth President of Latvia from 1999 to 2007. She is the first and to date only woman to hold the post. She was elected President of Latvia in 1999 and re-elected for the second term in 2003.
Arnold Rüütel is an Estonian politician. He was the third President of Estonia from 8 October 2001 to 9 October 2006. Rüütel was the second president of the country after the end of the 1944–1991 Soviet occupation, and the restoration of the independent Republic of Estonia on 20 August 1991.
Simone Veil was a French magistrate, Holocaust survivor, and politician who served as Health Minister in several governments and was President of the European Parliament from 1979 to 1982, the first woman to hold that office. As health minister, she is best remembered for advancing women's rights in France, in particular for the 1975 law that legalized abortion, today known as the Veil Act. From 1998 to 2007, she was a member of the Constitutional Council, France’s highest legal authority.
Raymond Octave Joseph Barre was a French right-wing politician and economist. He was a Vice President of the European Commission and Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs under three presidents. He later served as Prime Minister under Valéry Giscard d'Estaing from 1976 until 1981. As a candidate for the presidency in 1988, he came in third and was eliminated in the first round. He was born in Saint-Denis, on the French island of Réunion, and then still a colony.
Hubert Védrine is a French Socialist politician. He is an advisor at Moelis & Company.
Bernadette Thérèse Marie Chirac is a French politician and the widow of the former president Jacques Chirac.
Gabriele Albertini is an Italian politician.
Mireille Darc was a French model and actress. She appeared as a lead character in Jean-Luc Godard's 1967 film Weekend. Darc was a Knight of the Legion of Honour and Commander of the National Order of Merit. Alain Delon was her longtime co-star and companion.
Alfredo Jorge Nobre da Costa, GCC, ComC, OMRI, commonly known as Nobre da Costa, was a Portuguese engineer and politician who briefly served as prime minister of Portugal from August to November 1978.
Jaime José de Matos da Gama is a Portuguese former politician. In the Portuguese government, he served as Minister of Internal Administration in 1978, Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1983 to 1985 and from 1995 to 2002, and Minister of National Defence in 1999. From 2005 to 2011 we was President of the Assembly of the Republic.
Prokopios Pavlopoulos, commonly shortened to Prokopis (Προκόπης), is a Greek retired politician, who served as the president of Greece from 2015 to 2020. A member of New Democracy, he previously was Minister of the Interior from 2004 to 2009. He was succeeded by Katerina Sakellaropoulou on 13 March 2020, who became the first woman to serve as President of Greece.
Jean-Louis Georgelin was a French Army General who was Chief of the Defence Staff between 4 October 2006 and 25 February 2010. From 9 June 2010 until 2016 he served as Great Chancellor of the French national order, the Légion d'honneur.
The Order of Agricultural Merit is an order of merit bestowed by the French Republic for outstanding contributions to agriculture. When it was created in 1883, it was second in importance only to the Legion of Honour within the French order of precedence.
Catherine Colonna is a French diplomat and politician who served as Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs in the government of Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne from May 2022 to January 2024.
Sylvie Hubac is the former chief of staff of President François Hollande and was the personal representative of the French Co-Prince of Andorra between 2012 and 2015.
The National Order of Benin is the highest national honour in the Republic of Benin. It is conferred on individuals that have achieved high merits in their field, and is awarded by the President of Benin. It is one of two post-colonial national medals of Benin, the other being the Medal of Honor of the Police. Recipients of this award include Aliko Dangote, President Dr. Ernest Bai Koroma, and Bunmi Makinwa.
The Ordre national du Mérite is a French order of merit with membership awarded by the President of the French Republic, founded on 3 December 1963 by President Charles de Gaulle. The reason for the order's establishment was twofold: to replace the large number of ministerial orders previously awarded by the ministries; and to create an award that can be awarded at a lower level than the Legion of Honour, which is generally reserved for French citizens. It comprises about 185,000 members; 306,000 members have been admitted or promoted in 50 years.
