List of recipients of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany

This is a list of notable recipients of the top two classes of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany.

Grand Crosses Special Class[edit]

Presidents of the Federal Republic of Germany[edit]

The President of the Federal Republic of Germany is conferred with the Grand Cross Special Class of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (German: Sonderstufe des Großkreuzes) upon entering office as the ex-officio Grand Master of the order.

12 September 1949: Theodor Heuss, President (1949–1959)
13 September 1959: Heinrich Lübke, President (1959–1969)
1 July 1969: Gustav Heinemann, President (1969–1974)
1 July 1974: Walter Scheel, President (1974–1979)
1 July 1979: Karl Carstens, President (1979–1984)
1 July 1984: Richard von Weizsäcker, President (1984–1994)
1 July 1994: Roman Herzog, President (1994–1999)
1 July 1999: Johannes Rau, President (1999–2004)
1 July 2004: Horst Köhler, President (2004–2010)
30 June 2010: Christian Wulff, President (2010–2012)
18 March 2012: Joachim Gauck, President (2012–2017)
19 March 2017: Frank-Walter Steinmeier, President (2017–present)

Foreign recipients[edit]

Known dates[edit]

20 May 1953: Getúlio Vargas, former President of Brazil
20 July 1953: Manuel A. Odría, former President of Peru
25 August 1953: Juan Perón, former President of Argentina
30 October 1953: Gustavo Rojas Pinilla, former President of Colombia
21 November 1953: Carlos Ibáñez del Campo, former President of Chile
2 January 1954: Luigi Einaudi, former President of Italy
8 March 1954: King Paul I of Greece
15 April 1954: Marcos Pérez Jiménez, former President of Venezuela
11 June 1954: Adolfo Ruiz Cortines, former President of Mexico
12 June 1954: Celâl Bayar, former President of Turkey
6 November 1954: Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia
11 November 1954: José María Velasco Ibarra, former President of Ecuador
13 November 1954: Andrés Martínez Trueba, former President of Uruguay
29 December 1954: Óscar Osorio, former President of El Salvador
30 December 1954: Víctor Paz Estenssoro, former President of Bolivia
3 January 1955: Ásgeir Ásgeirsson, former President of Iceland
25 February 1955: Seán T. O'Kelly, former President of Ireland
27 February 1955: Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi of Iran
27 February 1955: Queen Soraya Esfandiary-Bakhtiary of Iran
1955: Juscelino Kubitschek, former President of Brazil
8 May 1956: Queen Frederica of Greece
5 October 1956: William Tubman, former President of Liberia
17 October 1956: Theodor Körner, former President of Austria
8 December 1956: Giovanni Gronchi, former President of Italy
29 July 1957: Manuel Prado Ugarteche, former President of Peru
1957: Fulgencio Batista, President of Cuba
20 October 1958: Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom
20 October 1958: Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh
28 July 1960: King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand
28 July 1960: Queen Sirikit of Thailand
1960: Arturo Frondizi, former President of Argentina
1961: Charles de Gaulle, former President of France
7 August 1963: King Mohammad Zahir Shah of Afghanistan
30 October 1963: Sukarno, former President of Indonesia
20 November 1963: Diosdado Macapagal, former President of the Philippines
20 November 1963: Eva Macapagal, former First Lady of the Philippines
1964: King Mahendra of Nepal
1964: Queen Ratna of Nepal
9 March 1967: Sultan Ismail Nasiruddin, former Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia
9 March 1967: Intan Zaharah, former Raja Permaisuri Agong of Malaysia
27 May 1967: Shahbanu Farah Pahlavi of Iran
1967: King Hussein of Jordan
24 November 1969: Queen Juliana of the Netherlands
24 November 1969: Prince Bernhard of Lippe-Biesterfeld
17 May 1971: Nicolae Ceaușescu, former President of Romania
18 June 1974: Queen Margrethe II of Denmark
18 June 1974: Prince Henrik, Prince Consort of Denmark
24 June 1974: Josip Broz Tito, former President of Yugoslavia
27 April 1975: Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, former President of France
19 April 1977: King Juan Carlos I of Spain
19 April 1977: Queen Sofia of Spain
2 December 1977: King Tāufaʻāhau Tupou IV of Tonga
2 December 1977: Queen Halaevalu Mataʻaho ʻAhomeʻe of Tonga
10 March 1979: King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden
10 March 1979: Queen Silvia of Sweden
6 June 1980: King Khalid of Saudi Arabia
15 July 1980: António Ramalho Eanes, former President of Portugal
21 January 1983: François Mitterrand, former President of France
1 March 1983: Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands
1 March 1983: Prince Claus of the Netherlands
1985: Mauno Koivisto, former President of Finland
1986: King Birendra of Nepal
22 April 1986: Francesco Cossiga, former President of Italy
4 July 1988: Vigdís Finnbogadóttir, former President of Iceland
1 August 1991: Mário Soares, former President of Portugal
7 September 1992: Sultan Azlan Shah, former Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia
1992: Andrew Bertie, former Prince and Grand Master of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta
13 September 1993: Emperor Akihito of Japan
13 September 1993: Empress Michiko of Japan
30 January 1994: George H. W. Bush, former President of the United States
18 April 1994: King Harald V of Norway
18 April 1994: Queen Sonja of Norway
10 July 1995: King Albert II of Belgium
10 July 1995: Queen Paola of Belgium
2 April 1997: Tuanku Ja'afar, former Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia
30 March 1998: Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah of Brunei
15 April 1999: Fernando Henrique Cardoso, former President of Brazil
19 May 1999: Guntis Ulmanis, former President of Latvia
27 May 1999: Emir Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani of Qatar
14 July 1999: Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, former President of Italy
13 October 1999: Eduard Shevardnadze, former President of Georgia
6 April 2000: Süleyman Demirel, former President of Turkey
9 May 2000: Václav Havel, former President of the Czech Republic
7 November 2000: Lennart Meri, former President of Estonia
8 November 2001: Guido de Marco, former President of Malta
10 December 2001: Tarja Halonen, former President of Finland
21 October 2002: King Abdullah II of Jordan
21 October 2002: Queen Rania of Jordan
17 March 2003: Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga, former President of Latvia
6 March 2005: Aleksander Kwaśniewski, former President of Poland
25 October 2005: Valdas Adamkus, former President of Lithuania
7 April 2006: Marc Ravalomanana, former President of Madagascar
27 August 2008: John Kufuor, former President of Ghana
26 May 2009: Aníbal Cavaco Silva, former President of Portugal
27 April 2010: Amir Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah of Kuwait
23 April 2012: Henri, Grand Duke of Luxembourg
9 July 2012: Albert II, Prince of Monaco
28 February 2013: Giorgio Napolitano, former President of Italy
8 July 2013: Toomas Hendrik Ilves, former President of Estonia
11 July 2013: Dalia Grybauskaitė, former President of Lithuania
3 September 2013: François Hollande, former President of France
5 May 2014: Miloš Zeman, former President of the Czech Republic
25 November 2014: Borut Pahor, former President of Slovenia
29 April 2015: Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca, former President of Malta
6 March 2016: King Philippe of Belgium
6 March 2016: Queen Mathilde of Belgium
22 June 2016: Rosen Plevneliev, former President of Bulgaria
17 November 2017: Andrej Kiska, former President of Slovakia
17 September 2018: Sauli Niinistö, former President of Finland
22 February 2019: Raimonds Vējonis, former President of Latvia
12 June 2019: Guðni Th. Jóhannesson, President of Iceland
19 September 2019: Sergio Mattarella, President of Italy
21 October 2019: Giacomo dalla Torre del Tempio di Sanguinetto, former Prince and Grand Master of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta
5 July 2021: King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands
5 July 2021: Queen Máxima of the Netherlands
10 November 2021: Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark
17 October 2022: King Felipe VI of Spain
17 October 2022: Queen Letizia of Spain
29 March 2023: King Charles III of the United Kingdom
29 March 2023: Queen Camilla of the United Kingdom
24 May 2023: Klaus Iohannis, President of Romania
12 February 2024: Nikos Christodoulides, President of Cyprus

Unknown dates[edit]

Grand Crosses Special Issue[edit]

31 January 1954: Konrad Adenauer, former Chancellor of Germany
1998: Helmut Kohl, former Chancellor of Germany^[1]^{[dead link]}
2009: Leo-Ferdinand Henckel von Donnersmarck, President of the German Association of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta
17 April 2023: Angela Merkel, former Chancellor of Germany^[2]

References[edit]

^ "Bundesverdienstkreuz mit Lorbeerkranz für Kohl". Rhein-Zeitung. 26 October 1998. Retrieved 31 January 2017.
^ "Angela Merkel awarded Germany's top order of merit despite criticism of legacy | Angela Merkel | The Guardian". amp.theguardian.com. Retrieved 2023-04-17.

[1] "Bundesverdienstkreuz mit Lorbeerkranz für Kohl". Rhein-Zeitung. 26 October 1998. Retrieved 31 January 2017.

[2] "Angela Merkel awarded Germany's top order of merit despite criticism of legacy | Angela Merkel | The Guardian". amp.theguardian.com. Retrieved 2023-04-17.

[1]

[2]