François Gérard Marie Lecointre is a French army general who has served as Grand Chancellor of the Order of the Legion of Honour since 1 February 2023. He previously served as Chief of the Defence Staff between 2017 and 2021.
General Lecointre in 2020
François Lecointre at the École Polytechnique
Joseph Dunford and François Lecointre during his first official visit in Washington, DC in 2018
The National Order of the Legion of Honour, formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour, is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon Bonaparte, it has been retained by all later French governments and regimes.
Current version of the Grand Cross of the order given by President René Coty to Dutch Prime Minister Willem Drees
First Légion d'Honneur investiture, 15 July 1804, at Saint-Louis des Invalides by Jean-Baptiste Debret (1812)
A depiction of Napoleon making some of the first awards of the Legion of Honour, at a camp near Boulogne on 16 August 1804
As Emperor, Napoleon always wore the Cross and Grand Eagle of the Legion of Honour.[citation needed]