The French government gives out the Legion of Honour awards, to both French [1] and foreign [2] nationals, based on a recipient's exemplary services rendered to France, or to the causes supported by France. This award is divided into five distinct categories (in ascending order [3] ), i.e. three ranks: Knight, Officer, Commander, and two titles: Grand Officer and Grand Cross. Knight is the most common and is awarded for either at least 20 years of public service or acts of military or civil bravery. [3] The rest of the categories have a quota for the number of years of service in the category below before they can be awarded. The Officer rank requires a minimum of eight years as a Knight, and the Commander, the highest civilian category for a non-French citizen, requires a minimum of five years as an Officer. The Grand Officer and the Grand Cross are awarded only to French citizens, and each requires three years' service in their respective immediately lower rank. [4] The awards are traditionally published and promoted on 14 July. [5]
The following is a non-exhaustive list of recipients of the Legion of Honour awards, since the first ceremony in May 1803. [3] 2,550 individuals can be awarded the insignia every year. [5] The total number of awards is close to 1 million [6] (estimated at 900,000 in 2021, [5] including over 3,000 Grand Cross recipients [7] ), with some 92,000 recipients alive today. [8] Only until 2008 was gender parity achieved among the yearly list of recipients, with the total number of women recipients since the award's establishment being only 59 at the end of the second French empire and only 26,000 in 2021. [5]
Recipient | Dates (birth–death) | General work & reason for the recognition | Award category (date) |
---|---|---|---|
Nils Waltersen Aasen | 1878–1925 | A Norwegian arms inventor, known for developing the modern hand grenade and land mine. | Knight (1915) [9] |
Claudio Abbado | 1933–2014 | Italian conductor |
|
Louise Abbéma | 1853 [11] –1927 [12] | French painter, sculptor, and designer of the Belle Époque. | Knight (1906) |
Antoine Samuel Adam-Salomon | 1818–1881 [13] | French sculptor and photographer | Knight (decree: 9 August 1870) [14] [15] |
Isabelle Adjani | 1955–present | French actress and singer of Algerian and German descent. Recognised for her contribution to the arts. | Knight (14 July 2010) |
Arnaud de Borchgrave | 1926–2015 | Belgian-American journalist who specialized in international politics. | Knight (July 2014) [16] |
Alfred Agache | 1843–1915 | French academic painter | |
Akihito | 1933–present | Emperor of Japan (125th). Known for presiding over the Heisei era, an expression of achieving peace worldwide. |
|
Ekrem Akurgal | 1911–2002 | Turkish archaeologist |
|
Azzedine Alaïa (turned down) | 1935–2017 | Tunisian couturier and shoe designer | Knight (2008) . [19] [20] [21] |
Pierre Albaladejo | 1933–present | French rugby union player |
|
Albert II, Prince of Monaco | 1958–present | Prince of Monaco | |
Helene Aldwinckle | 1920–2020 | Bletchley Park codebreaker (World War II) | Knight (Ceremony: 19 July 2019) [24] [25] [26] |
Jean Alesi | 1964–present | French former Formula 1 driver | Knight (2006) [27] |
Alexander I of Yugoslavia | |||
Harold Alexander, 1st Earl Alexander of Tunis | |||
Hossein Alizâdeh | |||
Jean Francois Allard | 1785–1839 | French soldier and adventurer | |
Henry Allingham | |||
Auguste Jean Ameil | |||
Dimitri Amilakhvari | |||
Jacques Ancel | |||
Władysław Anders | |||
Alfred Anderson | |||
Colonel (later Brigadier General) AT Anderson | |||
Alexander E Anderson USS General A. E. Anderson (AP-111) | |||
Constantine Andreou | Sculptor & painter | ||
Charles Paget, 6th Marquess of Anglesey | |||
Albert Anker | |||
Gregory Annenberg Weingarten [30] | |||
Regina Annenberg Weingarten [30] | |||
David Annoussamy | Nominated: 2006 Received: 2007 | ||
Jacques Anquetil | |||
Admiral Mohammad Anwar Mohammad Nor | |||
Chief of Defence Force of Malaysia (2007) | |||
Senedu Araya-Sellassie [31] | Founder of Vision on Africa, VoA | ||
Geoffrey Arbuthnot | |||
Denys Arcand | |||
Alphonse Areola | World Cup winning footballer | ||
Mohammed Arkoun | |||
Elizabeth Arden | |||
Dombasle Arielle | 1953–present | French actress, singer, producer | |
Giorgio Armani | Italian fashion designer | ||
Edwin Howard Armstrong | |||
Gladys Arnold | |||
Henry "Hap" Arnold | |||
Yann Arthus-Bertrand | Photographer, journalist, reporter and environmentalist | ||
Bahram Aryana | 1906–1985 | Former Chief of Staff of the Shah's Armed Forces | Grand Officier (TBA) |
Sir Frederick Ashton | Founding choreographer of The Royal Ballet | ||
Szymon Askenazy | |||
Olivar Asselin | |||
Celal Atik | |||
Vera Atkins | |||
Charley Attali | 1930-2006 | Israeli aerospace engineer, in charge of the Diamant [32] | |
Richard Attenborough | |||
Pierre Augereau | |||
Aung San Suu Kyi | |||
Jacqueline Auriol | |||
Charles Aznavour |