Grand Crosses Special Class

Presidents of the Federal Republic of Germany

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

Known dates

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
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, 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
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

Unknown dates

Grand Crosses Special Issue

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]