Knighthood for Prince Philip - Republicans can't complain about this one

It was only the second Australia Day honours since Tony Abbott made the laudable decision to restore knighthoods. Given it had generated some ridicule from sections of the media, and he's trailing badly in the polls, one might have expected him to keep this year's knighthoods a quiet and uncontroversial affair, awarding them to one or two to deserving Australians worthy of special recognition. While Sir Angus Houston met that criteria, most of us were left scratching our heads at the bemusing decision to award an Australian knighthood to Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh. Unsurprisingly, there was widespread scorn, with some joking that the Duke had been demoted to a knight.

Spot the Australian title in Prince Philip's official name (taken from Wikipedia):

His Royal Highness The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, Earl of Merioneth, Baron Greenwich, Royal Knight of the Most Noble Order of the Garter, Extra Knight of the Most Ancient and Most Noble Order of the Thistle, Grand Master and First and Principal Knight Grand Cross of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, Member of the Order of Merit, Companion of the Order of Australia, Additional Member of the Order of New Zealand, Extra Companion of the Queen's Service Order, Royal Chief of the Order of Logohu, Extraordinary Companion of the Order of Canada, Extraordinary Commander of the Order of Military Merit, Canadian Forces Decoration, Lord of Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, Privy Councillor of the Queen's Privy Council for Canada, Personal Aide-de-Camp to Her Majesty, Lord High Admiral of the United Kingdom.

The honour will mean nothing to the Duke, but will cost Tony Abbott political capital he has little of. At a time when he's already struggling to connect politically, it only helps to reinforce his opponents' stereotypes of him as an out-of-touch conservative stuck in the 50s. Surely there were other Australians worthy of the honour, for whom an Australian knighthood wouldn't have been lost in a myriad of other titles. He could perhaps even have proven wrong again his fictitious 'woman problem' by making Dames of leading Australian women such as Fiona Stanley or even trailblazers like Gail Kelly as she approaches retirement.

To be clear, there is nothing objectionable with the decision per se. As the spouse of Australia's head of state, he is entitled to be honoured in this manner for his patronage of some 800 charitable organisations. He is already a Companion of the Order of Australia and it makes sense for him to feature in the new, highest category of our honours system. The choice of timing leaves much to be desired

But awarding only the fourth reinstated knighthood to the 90 year old Duke who is unfortunately better known for his politically incorrect sense of humour than his charitable work sets back the monarchist cause. This was a chance for the Prime Minister to sell the benefits of knighthoods by granting international recognition to another worthy Australian, but instead he unwittingly helped reinforced republicans' criticisms that they elitist and anachronistic. 

The government has enough problems of its own making. It did not need to poison this low-hanging fruit as well.