There were by the 18th Century regiments of Swedish, German, and Swiss troops in service to France, the most famous of which were the
Swiss Guards. Since many of these regiments' officers were
Protestant, they were ineligible for conferral with Roman Catholic orders of chivalry such as the
Order of Saint Louis. King Louis XV initially created the
Institution du Mérite militaire as an award, but not as an order, because French orders were exclusive Catholics. King Louis was careful to promote the prestige of the award by appointing the most talented officers. One of the first Grand Crosses was received by
William Henry, Prince of Nassau-Saarbrücken. In 1791, during the
French Revolution, the Order of Military Merit was incorporated into the Order of St. Louis to create a single
Décoration Militaire, to which King
Louis XVIII made appointments until he on 28 November 1814 reinstituted the Order of Military Merit, and increased the number of available Grand Crosses to four and the number of available Grand Cordons to eight, and changed the colour of their sash to that of the Order of St. Louis. ==Decoration==