Baron Hervé Pinoteau (born 19 July 1927, Paris) is a French historian and royalist apologist. He is the author of more than 900 articles and 22 books primarily on history and heraldry. He is a member of the Académie Internationale d'Héraldique (International Academy of Heraldry) of which he was general secretary from 1964 to 1988. He was president of the Société nationale des Antiquaires de France in 2010.
He was recognized as an expert in French heraldry and vexology. He was commissioned to create the coat of arms of the Pays de la Loire region of France, and to do the final design for the coat of arms of the Republic of Chad.
Pinoteau is a monarchist who believed in the restoration of the House of Bourbon to the French throne. He was the founder of the Secretariat-du Prince Alphonse, Duc de Bourbon (1962) and the Institut de la maison de Bourbon (1973). He is considered one of the innovators of the legitimist movement in France.
From 1950 to 1951, he served in the French army as a lieutenant. He served as the private secretary of the late Prince Alfonso, Duke of Anjou, for 26 years.
Knight of the Legion of Honour (French: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur)
Commander of the Order of Prince Henry the Navigator (Portuguese: Ordem do Infante Dom Henrique)
Grand officer of the Civil Order of Alfonso X, the Wise (Spanish: Orden de Alfonso X el Sabio)
1990 - National History Prize of the National Academy of Reims - Paillard Foundation (l’Académie nationale de Reims - Fondation Paillard)
Among his many publications are contributions to:
Encyclopædia universalis (Thesaurus Index),
Dictionnaire du Grand siècle de François Bluche,
Dictionnaire du Second Empire de Jean Tulard,
Encyclopédie de la culture française d’Éclectis,
Dictionnaire de biographie française, and
Dictionnaire mondial des images de Laurent Gervereau.
Monarchie et avenir, Nouvelles Editions Latines, Paris 1960
L'héraldique capétienne, 1976, revised 2000
L'État de l'Ordre du Saint-Esprit en 1830 et la survivance des ordres du roi, 1983
Hervé Pinoteau, Fabien Gandrille, Christian Papet-Vauban, Etat présent de la maison de Bourbon : pour servir de suite à l'almanach royal de 1830 et à d'autres publications officielles de la Maison, Léopard d'or, 1986
Études sur les ordres de chevalerie du Roi de France, Le léopard d'Or, Paris 1995
Le chaos français et ses signes, 1998
Hervé Pinoteau, Jean de Vaulchier, Jacques Amable de Saulieu, Jean de Bodinat, Armorial de l'ANF - Association d'entraide de la Noblesse Française - Hervé Pinoteau : Héraldique et noblesse en préface de l'ouvrage
La symbolique royale française, 2004
Saint Louis: Son entourage et la symbolique chrétienne, 2006
Cinq études d'héraldique et de symbolique étatique, Léopard d'or, 2007
