Gisèle Pelicot and Pharrell Williams among newly minted Légionnaires d'honneur
The decorations will be awarded to 497 knights, 68 officers, 18 commanders, four grand officers and two grand crosses. This last distinction, the highest, will be awarded to the historian Mona Ozouf and the former President of the Constitutional Council Pierre Mazeaud.
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French opinion poll names Gisèle Pelicot personality of the year
Among the knights is Gisèle Pelicot, who became an international feminist figure during the trial of the rapes she suffered under chemical subjection by her former husband and other men. Gisèle Pelicot refused to allow the trial to be held behind closed doors, insisting that the "shame should change sides".
The American musician Pharrell Williams, who is also artistic director of Paris fashion house Louis Vuitton, is also among the personalities awarded the knighthood.
Former ministers Eric Dupond-Moretti, Stanislas Guerini, Stéphane Le Foll and Olivier Véran have also been knighted. Another former minister, Bruno Le Maire, has been made an officer, as has the former secretary general of the Elysée Palace, Alexis Kohler.
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