Officers of the Ordre national du M\u00e9rite

Édouard_Guillaud

Amiral Édouard Guillaud (born 10 July 1953) is a retired French Naval Officer and Admiral. He devoted a significant part of his career to the design of the Charles De Gaulle aircraft carrier, and eventually captained carrier de Gaulle. He served as Chief of the general staff headquarters of the Armies CEMA from 25 February 2010 to 2014.

Françoise_Seigner

Françoise Seigner (7 April 1928 – 13 October 2008) was a French actress. She is best known for her theatre work, but also acted in a few movies, such as The Wild Child (1970) and the 2005 adaptation of the Agatha Christie novel By the Pricking of My Thumbs (2005). She was the aunt of actresses Emmanuelle and Mathilde Seigner.Seigner died of pancreatic cancer.

Jean_Auroux

Jean Auroux (born 19 September 1942 in Thizy, Rhône) is a French politician. He served as Minister of Labour from 1981 to 1983, under former President François Mitterrand.He started his career as a school teacher, and became the Mayor of Roanne. In 2002, he was sued for corruption in his capacity as Mayor, but he was let go in 2011.

Christian_de_Portzamparc

Christian de Portzamparc (French pronunciation: [kʁistjɑ̃ də pɔʁtzɑ̃paʁk]; born 5 May 1944) is a French architect and urbanist.
He graduated from the École Nationale des Beaux Arts in Paris in 1970. His projects reflect a sensibility to their environment and to urbanism that is a founding principle of his work.In 1994, he was awarded the Pritzker Prize.

Christine_Ockrent

Christine Ockrent (born 24 April 1944) is a Belgian journalist whose career has principally centered on French television.

She interviewed Amir Abbas Hoveyda, the former Iranian prime minister, in Qasr prison after the Islamic revolution in 1979.
It was the last interview with Hoveyda before his execution.

Jean-Pierre_Rives

Jean-Pierre Rives (born 31 December 1952) is a French former rugby union player and visual artist.
"A cult figure in France", according to the BBC, he came to epitomise the team's spirit and "ultra-committed, guts-and-glory style of play".
He won 59 caps for France – 34 of them as captain – and was inducted into the International Rugby Hall of Fame.
After retiring from the sport, Rives concentrated entirely on his art.
He is both a painter and a sculptor, and exhibiting regularly at prominent public venues all over the globe. Rives was awarded the Order of the Legion of Honor and the National Order of Merit by the government of France.
He met Russell Yapp in Australia in 1994. They then became best mates from that day on with Russel Yapp wearing his tour tie to every event!