Title: Decoration of Honour for Services to the Republic of Austria Content: The Decoration of Honour for Services to the Republic of Austria is a national honour awarded by the Republic of Austria. It is a visible honour. It is also called the Order of Merit of the Austrian Republic. The Order has 15 levels. It is Austria's highest honour. ==Notable recipients== Below is a list with names of all Grand Star recipients and other notable recipients. It is in order of date. ===Grand Star recipients=== ==== Royal Houses ==== *Haile Selassie, Emperor of Ethiopia between 1930 and 1974 (1954) *Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, Emperor of Persia from 1941 to 1979 (1958) *Albert II, King of the Belgians since 1993 (1958) *Elizabeth II, Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth Realms since 1952 (1966) *Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, Prince consort of Queen Elizabeth II (1966) *Olav V, King of Norway from 1957 to 1991 (1966) *Paola, Queen of the Belgians since 1993 (1997) *Akihito, Emperor of Japan since 1989 (1999) *Michiko, Japanese empress consort since 1989 (1999) *Rania, Jordanian queen consort since 1999 (2001) *Qabus ibn Said, Sultan of Oman since 1970 (2001) *Carl XVI Gustaf, King of Sweden since 1973 *Hassan II, King of Morocco from 1961 to 1999 *Harald V, King of Norway since 1991 *Abdullah II, King of Jordan since 1999 (2001) ==== Politicians ==== *Adolf Schärf, President of Austria from 1957 to 1965 (1957) *Franz Jonas, President of Austria from 1965 to 1974 (1965) *Josip Broz Tito, President of Yugoslavia from 1953 to 1980 (1965) *Rudolf Kirchschläger, President of Austria from 1974 to 1986 (1974) *Kurt Waldheim, Secretary-General of the United Nations from 1972 to 1981, and President of Austria from 1986 to 1992 (1974) *Thomas Klestil, President of Austria between 1992 and 2004 (1992) *Emil Constantinescu, President of Romania from 1996 to 2000 (1999) *Árpád Göncz, President of Hungary from 1990 to 2000 (1999) *Konstantinos Stefanopoulos, President of Greece from 1995 to 2005 (1999) *Petar Stoyanov, President of Bulgaria von 1997 bis 2002 (1999) *Nursultan Nazarbayev, President of Kazakhstan since 1990 (2000) *Stjepan Mesić, President of Yugoslavia in 1991, and President of Croatia since 2000 (2001) *Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, President of Italy from 1999 to 2006 (2002) *Jorge Sampaio, President of Portugal from 1996 to 2006 (2002) *Abdelaziz Bouteflika, President of Algeria since 1999 (2003) *Heinz Fischer, President of Austria from 2004 to 2016 (2004) *Giorgio Napolitano, President of Italy from 2006 to Present (2007) *Jacques Chirac, President of France from 1995 to 2007 *Ferdinand Marcos, President of the Philippines from 1965 to 1986 ===Other select recipients=== * Dimitri Shostakovich (Grand Decoration of Honour in Silver, 1967)Volkov, Solomon. (2004). Testimony, p. 280. *Willy Brandt, Chancellor of Germany from 1969 to 1974 (Grand Decoration of Honour in Gold with Sash, 1972) * Anna Freud (1975)Felder, Deborah G. (2005). Fifty Jewish Women Who Changed the World, p. 129. * Shoichiro Toyoda (Grand Decoration of Honour in Gold with Star, 1999).Toyota: Toyoda bio * Randolph M. Bell (Grand Decoration of Honour in Silver, 2004)Austrian Information, May/June 2004 * Jeanette Schmid (Decoration of Merit in Gold, 2004) * Stuart Eizenstat (Grand Decoration of Honour in Gold with Star, 2005)Covington & Burling: Eizenstat bio *Andreas Maislinger (Decoration of Honour in Silver, 2005) *Kofi Annan, Secretary- General of the United Nations from 1997 to 2006 (Grand Decoration in Gold with Sash, 2007) *Gerhard Rühm, author, composer and artist (Decoration of Honour in Gold, 2007) *Ertuğrul Günay, Minister of Culture and Tourism of Turkey (Grand Decoration in Gold with Sash, 2010) *Prince Hassan bin Talal, (Grand Decoration of Honour in Gold with Sash), 2004. *Christoph Schönborn, Roman Catholic Cardinal and Archbishop of Vienna (Grand Decoration of Honour in Gold with Sash, 2008) *Alois Mock, Vice-Chancellor of Austria from 1987 to 1989 (Grand Decoration of Honour in Gold with Sash) * Walter Schwimmer (Grand Decoration of Honour in Silver with Star)Council of Europe: Schwimmer bio * Simon Wiesenthal * Ruth Wodak (Decoration of Honour in Silver, 2011)Lancaster University * Elisabeth Bleyleben-Koren * Miep Gies (2009)