Legion of Honour

National Order of the Legion of Honour
Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur
National Order of the Legion of Honour; Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur
	Current version of the Grand Cross of the order given by President René Coty to Dutch Prime Minister Willem Drees
Awarded by President of France
Type	Order of merit
Established	19 May 1802
Country	France
Motto	Honneur et patrie ("Honour and Fatherland")
Eligibility	Military and civilians
Awarded for	Excellent civil or military conduct; delivered, upon official investigation
Founder	Napoleon Bonaparte
Grand Master	Emmanuel Macron, President of France
Grand Chancellor	François Lecointre
Secretary-General	Julien Le Gars
Classes	(in 2010) 00,0 1 Grand-maître; 00,067 Grand(s)-croix; 00,314 Grand(s) officier(s); 03,009 Commandeur(s); 17,032 Officier(s); 74,384 Chevalier(s);
Statistics
First induction	15 July 1804
Precedence
Next (higher)	None
Next (lower)	Order of Liberation; (ceased 24 January 1946);
	; Order's streamer; ; Grand-croix; ; Grand-officier; ; Commandeur; ; Officier; ; Chevalier; ; Ribbon bars of the order; ;

The National Order of the Legion of Honour (French: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur [ɔʁdʁ nɑsjɔnal də la leʒjɔ̃ dɔnœʁ] ^ⓘ), formerly the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour (Ordre impérial de la Légion d'honneur), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil, and currently comprises five classes. Established in 1802 by Napoleon Bonaparte, it has been retained (with occasional slight alterations) by all later French governments and regimes.

The order's motto is Honneur et Patrie ("Honour and Fatherland"); its seat is the Palais de la Légion d'Honneur next to the Musée d'Orsay, on the left bank of the Seine in Paris.^[a] Since 1 February 2023, the Order's grand chancellor has been retired General François Lecointre, who succeeded fellow retired General Benoît Puga in office.

The order is divided into five degrees of increasing distinction: Chevalier (Knight), Officier (Officer), Commandeur (Commander), Grand officier (Grand Officer) and Grand-croix (Grand Cross).

^ Le petit Larousse 2013, p.1567.

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[1] Le petit Larousse 2013, p.1567.

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