The right to wear insignia is the main privilege conferred by the award of a French decoration.
1. The different rights
Wearing the insignia
The insignia of the two national Orders (Legion of Honor and National Order of Merit) may be worn only after the induction ceremony conferring the decoration and the signing of the official record of rank. Seniority in rank and the possibility of promotion to the next rank are taken into account beginning on that date.
The other French decorations may be worn as soon as the decree or order making the award official is published. French nationals who are awarded a foreign decoration must request and receive the Grand Chancellor's permission before they accept it and wear it.
Wearing a French or foreign decoration illegally is punishable under the Penal Code by a sentence of up to one year in prison and a fine of 15,000 euros.
Written mention
The decoration may be mentioned after the person’s name in civil status documents issued after the award of the decoration, administrative acts, police reports, judgments and as a general rule in any correspondence or document not for commercial purposes. The holders of Grand Officer and Grand Cross titles of the Legion of Honor are entitled to military funeral honors at their funerals.
Stipend
For active duty military personnel and certified war veterans, nomination or promotion in the Legion of Honor may entail a symbolic stipend, which is a legacy of history.
For example, for the Legion of Honor, the annual stipend ranges from 6.10 euros for a Knight to 36.59 euros for a Grand Cross. For the same historical reasons, every Military Medalist is entitled to a stipend of 4.57 euros per year.
Admission to the Maison d'éducation of the Legion of Honor
The daughters, granddaughters and great-granddaughters of French and foreign recipients of the National Orders and the Military Medal have the opportunity to study at the Houses of Education of the Legion of Honor, corresponding to the lower- and upper-level secondary schools of the public education system. Admission is highly selective, the number of places is limited and not all applications can be accepted.
2. Rules for wearing insignia
The decoration is worn on the left-hand side of the chest according to a protocol defined by official documents and custom.
Different occasions
- Official and public ceremonies: the full insignia is worn as required by the rules (insignia in "hanging" form).
- Evening wear: for practical reasons, smaller insignia, exact replicas of the official insignia, may be worn. However, according to custom, decorations are worn only on suits, not on evening dress.
- Business attire (jacket): lapel insignia of the same color as the decoration may be worn —ribbons for Knights, rosettes for Officers, and rosettes on half-knots for the other ranks and titles.
- Professional uniform (military uniform, lawyer’s and religious robes...): the insignia is replaced by a ribbon bar, potentially with the distinctive attributes of a rank or title in the center.
- As is evident, one must preserve the dignity of decorations and refrain from displaying them on casual or sports wear.
According to the order of precedence
The Grand Chancellor of the Legion of Honor has sole authority to determine the order in which official French decorations are to be worn. The Grand Chancellor’s list follows all the rules and is the sole document of reference.
The Legion of Honor is worn before any other French or foreign decoration, in the following order of precedence:
Order of precedence of French decorations
- Order of the Legion of Honor
- Order of Liberation
- Military Medal
- National Order of Merit
- National Medal of Recognition for victims of terrorism
- Cross of War (1939-1945, TOE)
- Cross for Military Valor
- Medal of the National Gendarmerie
- Medal of War Casualties French Resistance
- Medal Order of Academic Palms
- Order of Agricultural Merit
- Order of Maritime Merit
- Order of Arts and Letters
- Escapee’s Medal
- Volunteer Combatant Cross: 1939-1945, Resistance, Indochina, Korea, AFN (North Africa)
- Aeronautical Medal
- Combatant Cross Medal of French Gratitude
- Overseas Medal (formerly Colonial Medal)
- National Defense Medal
- Medal for Voluntary Military Service
- Medals of Honor of the Ministries
- North Africa Medal and Medal of the Nation’s Gratitude
- Commemorative medals and equivalent