Other insignia to be displayed include Philip’s Order of the Garter,Order of the Thistle,Royal Victorian Order and Order of the British Empire. There will also be a few honours from other Commonwealth countries.

One cushion will hold Philip’s Field Marshal Baton and Royal Air Force Wings.

Knights and dames in the Order of Australia existed between 1976 and 1986. Abbott reinstated them in 2014 but his successor Malcolm Turnbull abolished them again the following year.

Abbott knows the insignia will be displayed at the funeral and is chuffed.

In an opinion piece for News Corp papers over the weekend,the former prime minister said “what’s now belatedly being recognised is how good and decent a man we have lost”.

“Part of the human stain is our tendency to look for the minor flaws in people rather than try to discern their fundamental strengths,” Abbott said. “At times,he suffered at the hands of the media,for supposed gaffes.

“How small-minded that all seems,now that this pillar of duty and service has joined the spirit world;and those of us who scoffed at his humour or scorned the Crown he served have to face the awkward reality that he was almost certainly a better man than any of us.”

Abbott said Philip waspartly responsible for making Queen Elizabeth II’s reign the most distinguished in the British monarchy’s 1200-year history.

“Prince Philip had been part of the wartime naval defence of Australia,he’d opened the 1956 Melbourne Olympics,visited our country more than 20 times,and inspired the award gained by three quarters of a million young Australians,” Abbott said.

“If that wasn’t service to our country,what was?”

And of the knighthood that caused so much grief? “I hope it gave him some satisfaction in his last years,especially as it’s so clear now – if not to everyone then – how much he deserved it.”