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 amongst 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 and reason for the recognition | Award Category (Date) |
---|---|---|---|
Patrick Cabanel | 1961 – Present | French historian | Knight (decree - 6 April 2012) [9] |
Joseph Cabassol | 1859 – 1928 | French lawyer, politician, and banker | Knight (TBA) [10] |
Charles Maurice Cabart-Danneville | 1846 – 1918 | French politician | TBA[ citation needed ] |
Coralie Cahen | 1832 – 1899 | French philanthropist and sculptor | Knight (decree: 28 December 1888) [11] |
Alphonse de Cailleux | 1788 – 1876 | Painter, connoisseur and arts administrator. Known for being the director of the Musée du Louvre and all the royal museums of France | Knight Officer (decree: 17 May 1826) [12] |
Frédéric Cailliaud | 1787 – 1869 | French Egyptologist and explorer | TBA[ citation needed ] |
René Caillié | 1799 – 1838 | French explorer. Known for being the first European to return alive from the town of Timbuktu. | Knight (decree: 10 December 1828) [13] |
Roger Caillois | 1913 – 1978 | French writer, member of the Académie Française | Officer[ citation needed ] |
Rafael Caldera | 1916 – 2009 | Two time President of Venezuela | TBA[ citation needed ] |
Italo Calvino | 1923 – 1985 | Italian author. | TBA (1981) [14] |
Patrick de Cambourg | 1949 – Present | Former Chairman (Mazars Group) | Knight (decree: 13 juillet 2005) [15] |
Francis Cammaerts | 1916 – 2006 | Colombia SOE. Recognised for his operations during World War II. | TBA[ citation needed ] |
Jacques Camou | 1792 – 1868 | French general | Grand Sash (1857)[ citation needed ] |
Maxime Du Camp | 1822 – 1894 | French writer and photographer | Officer (1853)[ citation needed ] |
Gordon Campbell | 1886 – 1953 | British Admiral. Recognised for his actions during World War I | Knight. [16] |
Iris Cantor | 1931 – Present | Los Angeles-based philanthropist (medicine and the arts) Recognised for his promotion of appreciation of the French sculptor Auguste Rodin. | Knight (2000) [17] Officer (ceremony: 20 March 2017) [18] |
James Brudenell, 7th Earl of Cardigan | 1797 – 1868 | British Army Officer (Crimean War). Known for leading the Charge of the Light Brigade at the Battle of Balaclava. | Commander (2 August 1856) [19] |
Carl XVI Gustaf de Suède | 1946 – Present | King of Sweden | Grand Cross (1980) [20] [21] |
Jacques Cariou | 1870 – 1951 | French army Captain and equestrian, won individual gold, individual bronze and a silver team medal in the 1912 Olympics. Honored for actions at the Battle of Champagne, World War I. | Knight [22] |
Alexis Carrel | 1873 – 1944 | French surgeon and biologist. Recognised for collaboratively developing (with Henry Drysdale Dakin) the Carrel–Dakin method of treating wounds based on chlorine (Dakin's solution) which, preceding the development of antibiotics, was a major medical advance in the care of traumatic wounds. | TBA[ citation needed ] |
Madeleine Carroll | 1906 – 1987 [23] | English actress. Recognised for overseas work, during World War II, liaising between the forces of the United States Army and the French Resistance, and her post-war fostering of amity between France and the United States. | TBA (1946) [24] [25] |
Henry H. Carter | 1905 – 2001 | American linguistics professor [26] | TBA[ citation needed ] |
George Carter-Campbell | 1869 – 1921 | Senior British Army officer (World War I and the Second Boer War). | Commander [27] |
Mary Cassatt | 1844 – 1926 | American painter and printmaker | Knight (1904)[ citation needed ] |
Noël Édouard, vicomte de Curières de Castelnau | 1851 – 1944 | French general (World War I) | Grand Cross[ citation needed ] |
Raoul Castex | 1878 – 1968 | French admiral | Knight (decree - 6 November 1912) [28] Officer (decree - 10 July 1920) [29] Commander (decree - 15 January 1930) [30] Grand officer (decree - 2 July 1936) [31] Grand Cross (decree - 22 July 1959) [31] |
Jacques Jean Félix Casties | Airline pilot. Recognised for his 43 years of professional and military services. | Knight (decree - 19 April 2000) [32] | |
Giuseppe Castiglione | 1829 – 1908 | Italian artist | TBA (1893) [33] |
Frederick Walker Castle | 1908 – 1944 | United States Air Force General Officer (World War II) | Knight[ citation needed ] |
Clifton B. Cates | 1893 – 1970 | United States Marine Corps four-star general (World War I and (World War II) | TBA [34] |
Albertus W. Catlin | 1868 – 1933 | United States Marine Corps General | Knight Officer [35] |
Marcel Caux (born Harold Katte) | 1899 – 2004 | Australian World War I veteran. Known for being the last known survivor of the Battle of Pozières. | Knight (4 July 1998)[ citation needed ] |
Nicolae Ceaușescu | 1918 [36] – 1989 | Romanian communist politician and dictator. | TBA[ citation needed ] |
Ivan Ceresnjes (also vica Ceresnjes) | 1945 – Present | Bosnian architect-researcher. Recognised for Service carried out by the Benevolencija and the Sarajevo Jewish communities throughout the war. | TBA (ceremony - 12 October 1994) [37] [38] |
Clifford Chadderton | 1919 – 2013 | Canadian World War II veteran and chief executive officer of The War Amps | Knight (2004)[ citation needed ] |
Edgar Chahine | 1874 – 1947 | French painter, engraver, and illustrator of Armenian descent | TBA (1932)[ citation needed ] |
Cécile Chaminade | 1857 – 1944 | French composer, noted female recipient | TBA[ citation needed ] |
Alexandre-Emile Béguyer de Chancourtois | 1820 – 1886 | French geologist and mineralogist. Known for arranging the chemical elements in order of atomic weights (1862). | TBA (1867)[ citation needed ] |
Jean-Pierre Changeux | 1936 – Present | French neuroscientist | Grand Cross (2010)[ citation needed ] |
André Chapelon | 1892 – 1978 | French engineer | Knight (1934)[ citation needed ] |
Jean-Antoine Chaptal | 1756 – 1832 | French chemist, physician, agronomist, industrialist, statesman, educator and philanthropist. | Knight (decree: 2 October 1803) Grand Officer (decree: 14 June 1804) Grand Cross (decree: 22 May 1825) [39] |
Jean-Martin Charcot | 1825 – 1893 | French Physician (neurologist) and founder of modern neurology | Knight (decree: 22 April 1858) [40] Officer (decree: 4 April 1880) [41] Commander (decree: 12 January 1892) [42] |
Jean Charest | 1958 – Present | Canadian politician | Commander (2 February 2009) [43] |
Émilie Charmy | 1878 – 1974 | Painter (France's early avant-garde period). Known for working closely with Fauve artists like Henri Matisse. | Knight (decree: 13 January 1926) [44] [45] Officer (decree: 5 August 1938) [46] |
Martin Charteris, Baron Charteris of Amisfield | 1913 – 1999 | British Army officer and courtier (Queen Elizabeth II) | Grand Officer[ citation needed ] |
Ngô Bảo Châu | 1972 [47] – Present | Vietnamese-French mathematician (University of Chicago). Recognised for 14 years of civil service. Known for proving the fundamental lemma for automorphic forms. | Knight [48] |
Alexander Chavchavadze | 1786 – 1846 | Georgian poet, public benefactor and military figure | TBA[ citation needed ] |
René Cheruy | 1880 – 1965 | Soldier, educator and artist. Known for serving as Auguste Rodin's secretary. | TBA[ citation needed ] |
Ferdinand J. Chesarek | 1914 – 1993 | United States Army general | TBA[ citation needed ] |
Louis Chevalier | 1911 – 2001 | French historian | Knight (1958) Officier (1967) Commander (1977) [49] |
Gabriel Chevallier | 1895 – 1969 | French novelist widely. Known for being the author of the satire Clochemerle. | Knight [50] |
Julia Child | 1912 – 2004 | American cooking teacher, author, and television personality | Knight (ceremony: 19 November 2000) [51] [52] [53] |
Dezydery Chlapowski | 1788 – 1879 | Polish general, businessman and political activist. Recognised for his role in the Battle of Tczew. | TBA[ citation needed ] |
Józef Chlopicki | 1771 – 1854 | Polish general. Recognised for his Heroism at the battle of Epila and the storming of Zaragoza. | TBA[ citation needed ] |
Yang Ho Cho | 1949 – 2019 | Chairman, Hanjin Group, South Korea | Grand Officer (November 2015)[ citation needed ] |
Yash Chopra | 1932 – 2012 | Indian film director and producer. (Hindi cinema) [54] Recognised for his efforts to foster the spirit of collaboration between France and India in the field of audiovisual arts. | Officer (5 July 2008) [55] [56] |
Charles-Joseph Christiani | 1772 – 1840 | French Army maréchal de camp (Napoleonic Wars) | Grand Officer (17 May 1813)[ citation needed ] |
Michel Ciment | 1938 [57] – 2023 | French film critic [58] and magazine editor (Positif) | Knight[ citation needed ] |
Dusan Ckrebic | 1927 – Present | Serbian politician and former President | Grand Officer[ citation needed ] |
Jean-Pierre Clamadieu | 1958 – Present | French businessman | Knight (decree: 31 December 2005) [59] |
Ray Clark | U. S. Army veteran WWII | TBA[ citation needed ] | |
Wesley Clark | 1944 – Present | United States Army officer (4-star General) | Commander[ citation needed ] |
Eugent Clarke | Jamaican British West Indies Regiment veteran of WWI | Grand Cross [60] | |
Adolphe Clément-Bayard | 1855 – 1928 | French entrepreneur and industrialist. Known as a manufacturer of bicycles, pneumatic tyres, motorcycles, motorcars and airships. | Commander (1912)[ citation needed ] |
Laura Clifford Barney | 1879 – 1974 | American Baháʼí studies teacher and philanthropist | TBA[ citation needed ] |
Pierre Clostermann | 1921 – 2006 | World War II French fighter pilot | Grand Cross[ citation needed ] |
Martine Clozel | 1955 – present | Swiss-french scientist and entrepreneur | Officer [61] |
Jacqueline Cochran | 1906 – 1980 | American pilot and business executive | TBA[ citation needed ] |
Jean Cocteau | 1889 – 1963 | French poet, playwright, novelist, designer, filmmaker, visual artist and critic. | Commander[ citation needed ] |
Grégoire Coffinières de Nordeck | 1811 – 1887 | French general | Knight (22 September 1835) Officer (decree: 2 December 1850) Commander (decree: 15 July 1859) [62] |
William Anderson Coffin | 1855 – 1925 [63] | Painter (American landscapes and figures) and art critic (New York Post) Recognised for his charitable work. | TBA (1917)[ citation needed ] |
Daniel Cohen | 1953 – Present | French economist and professor (Paris School of Economics) | Knight (11 April 2001) [64] |
Marthe Cohn | 1920 – Present | French author [65] [66] | TBA (2002)[ citation needed ] |
Colette | 1873 – 1954 | French author | Knight (1920) Grand Officer (1953) [67] |
Jean-Philippe Collard | 1948 – Present | French pianist | Knight (January 2003) [68] |
Eileen Collins | 1956 – Present | NASA astronaut and United States Air Force colonel | TBA[ citation needed ] |
J. Lawton Collins | 1896 – 1987 | Senior United States Army officer. | Grand Officer[ citation needed ] |
Charles Combes | 1801 – 1872 | French engineer | Commander (decree: 16 August 1860) [69] |
Yves Congar | 1904 – 1995 | French priest and theologian | TBA[ citation needed ] |
Sean Connery | 1930 – 2020 | Scottish actor | Knight[ citation needed ] |
Cyril Connolly | 1903 – 1974 | English literary critic and writer | TBA[ citation needed ] |
Jacinto Convit | 1913 – 2014 | Venezuela physician and scientist. Recognised for his developing a leprosy vaccine and tropical diseases. | TBA [70] |
James T. Conway | 1947 – Present | U.S. 4-star General, 34th Commandant of the United States Marine Corps. Recognised for his strategic positioning of the U.S. Marine Corps to confront the problems that both allies face, and a long history of friendship between the two nations. | Commander (2009) [71] |
Charles H. Coolidge | 1921 – 2021 | United States Army technical sergeant | TBA (ceremony: 15 September 2006) [72] |
Julian Coolidge | 1873 – 1954 | American mathematician, historian and a professor | Knight (1919) [73] |
Corneliu Coposu | 1914 – 1995 [74] [75] | Politician (Christian Democratic National Peasants). Known as the Christian Democratic National Peasants' Part founder. | Grand Officer (1995)[ citation needed ] |
William Corbet | 1779 – 1842 | Anglo-Irish soldier in the service of France. |
|
Thomas Crombie Cordiner | British Army, Royal Tank Regiment. | TBA [76] | |
Charles H. Corlett | 1889 – 1971 | Senior United States Army officer. |
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Doina Cornea | 1929 – 2018 | Romanian human rights activist and French language professor. | |
Peter Cosgrove | 1947 – Present | Retired senior Australian Army officer, and former Chief of the Defence Force, who served as the 26th Governor-General of Australia |
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Gérard Coste | 1939 – Present | French painter and diplomat. | Knight (TBA) [81] |
Pierre Auguste Cot | 1837 – 1883 | French painter of the Academic Classicism school. | Knight (1874)[ citation needed ] |
Jean Cottier | 1912 – 2003 | French Civil servant (Diplomat to Washington D.C.) and Business Executive. Known for being the London Chairman of Banque Française du Commerce Extérieur (BFCE). | TBA[ citation needed ] |
Henri du Couëdic de Kerérant | 1868 – 1947 | Amiral, Commandeur | Knight (24 December 1897) Officier (17 January 1917) Commander (30 April 1921)[ citation needed ] |
Michel du Couëdic de Kerérant | 1931 – 2006 | Capitaine de Vaisseau | Officer[ citation needed ] |
Georges Courteline | 1858 – 1929 | French dramatist and novelist | Knight (1899)[ citation needed ] |
Hélène Courtois | 1970 – Present | French astrophysicist | Knight (1 January 2020) [82] |
Jacques-Yves Cousteau | 1910 – 1997 | French naval officer, divemaster, oceanographer, filmmaker and author. | |
Joëlle Coutaz | French computer scientist. Recognised for her ptoneering work in human-computer interaction (HCI) | Knight (March 2013) [83] | |
Léon Couturier | 1842 - 1935 | French painter in the Naturalistic style, who specialized in maritime and military subjects. | Knight (1897) [84] |
Robert Cowper | 1922 – 2016 | Australia Fighter Pilot (World War II). Recognised for his part in the D-Day invasion at Normandy. [85] [86] | TBA (2004) [87] |
Edgar William Cox | 1882 – 1918 | British general and intelligence officer | TBA[ citation needed ] |
Paul Coze | 1903 – 1974 | French-American anthropologist and artist. | TBA[ citation needed ] |
Austen Crehore | 1893 – 1962 | World War I pilot in the Armée de l'Air. Recognised for his record serving the French Flying Corps. | Knight (TBA)[ citation needed ] |
Jean Crépin | 1908 – 1996 | French general | Grand Cross[ citation needed ] |
David Cronenberg | Canadian film director | TBA[ citation needed ] | |
Carlos Cruz-Diez | 1923 – Present | Venezuelan painter | TBA (2012)[ citation needed ] |
Kenneth Cummins | 1900 – 2006 | One of the last surviving British veterans of the First World War. | TBA[ citation needed ] |
Andrew Cunningham | 1st Viscount Cunningham of Hyndhope | TBA[ citation needed ] | |
Ève Curie | 1904 – 2007 | French and American writer, journalist and pianist. Recognised for her work in UNICEF |
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Ivan Ćurković | 1944 – Present | Serbian sports executive and former footballer who played as a goalkeeper. | Knight (ceremony: 5 October 2005) [89] [90] |
Arthur Currie | 1875 – 1933 | Senior officer of the Canadian Army who fought during World War I |
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Piotr Cywiński | 1972 – Present | Professional historian and Director of the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum. Recognised for his leadership in the field of Holocaust remembrance. | Knight (17 January 2019) [91] |
Walerian Czuma | 1890 – 1962 | Polish general and military commander |
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Marion Cotillard | 1975 – Present | French actress, film producer, singer, and environmentalist | Knight (14 July 2016) [92] |
Yves Crozet | French economist and specialist in transport economics. Recognised for his twenty-five years in the service of higher education and research | Knight (18 April 2014) [93] [94] |
He is a chevalier of both the French National Order of Merit and the Legion of Honor.