In total, 482 people were nominated to receive the Legion of Honor, and 1,119 the National Order of Merit. A special promotion for the reconstruction of Notre-Dame is also in the spotlight.
New year, new promotion. The Legion of Honor was awarded on January 18, 2025 to no less than 482 people, divided between 403 knights, 56 officers, 19 commanders, 3 grand officers and a grand cross.
Added to these are the 1,119 recipients of the National Order of Merit, usually announced in November, but this time shifted to “reason for ministerial changes”indicates in a press release the Grand Chancellery of the Legion of Honor. “All these people embody merit, civic-mindedness, courage. They serve in the long term the general interest and the influence of the country, the first criterion for awarding these decorations.assures the organization.
Recipients of the Legion of Honor
The Legion of Honor brings together three ranks, knight, officer and commander, and two dignities, grand officer and grand cross.
This year, the actress Camille Cottin, the composer Étienne Daho, the baker Éric Kayser, the actress Mélanie Thierry, and the starred chef Fanny Rey received the knighthood.
LOU BENOIST / AFP
Former ministers are also named knights, such as Rima Abdul Malak, former Minister of Culture, Clément Beaune, who was in charge of transport, Olivier Dussopt, former Minister of Labor, Marlène Schiappa, Secretary of State in charge of Equality between women and men and the fight against discrimination within the governments of Édouard Philippe, or Amélie Oudéa-Castéra, former Minister of Sports.
THOMAS SAMSON / AFP
At the rank of officer of the Legion of Honor, we find the former resistance fighter Odette Bergoffen, who risked her life in 1942, in Maine-et-Loire, to protect a Jewish mother and her two children. Jacques-Charles Fombonne, president of the Society for the Protection of Animals (SPA) and Bixente Lizarazu, sports consultant and world football champion in 1998, were also elevated to this grade.
-Éric Trappier, president and CEO of the Dassault* group, has been appointed to the rank of commander. Philippe Labro, journalist and novelist, was elevated to the dignity of grand officer. Jacques de Larosière, honorary governor of the Bank of France and member of the Academy of Moral and Political Sciences, became a Grand Cross.
A special Notre-Dame promotion
Among the personalities enshrined in the National Order of Merit are the speaker and former deportee Lili Leignel (“commander”), the actress Marie-Christine Barrault and the psychiatrist and psychoanalyst Boris Cyrulnik (both “grand officer”).
Finally, this year is marked by the creation of a special promotion rewarding 101 people who participated in the reconstruction of Notre-Dame de Paris with the Legion of Honor and the National Order of Merit. Philippe Jost, head of the public establishment responsible for the conservation and restoration of Notre-Dame de Paris cathedral, has been promoted to Commander of the Legion of Honor.
Founded by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1802, the Legion of Honor is the highest French national distinction. Today it has 79,000 members, rewarded for their eminent merits in the service of the nation. The National Order of Merit has 177,000 members.
*The Dassault group owns the group Figaro.
