In days gone by receiving a knighthood was a two-edged sword.

Yes, it entitled you to gifts of land, attendance at royal banquets and your choice of chambermaids when staying at the king’s castle, but you were also required to suit-up and face the risk of mutilation from a bloke wielding a rusty broadsword.

In 21st century Australia knighthood isn’t quite as dramatic, unless you are Tony Abbott.

Bestowing the title to Prince Phillip is a disgrace to all red-blooded, shirt-fronting Australians overlooked for the Queen’s husband.

If he’d bothered looking, Abbott would have found plenty of righteous rock kickers eager to dress up in tights and armour while riding a horse.

Andrew Forrest, anti-slavery campaigner and Prince of the Pilbara, must feel miffed about Abbott placing a higher value on the nebulous achievements of an ageing foreign Duke ahead of his own sterling feats:

There once was an entrepreneur

Who did God’s work while mining his ore

But a visit to the Holy City

And a truck load of charity

Wasn’t enough to earn him a “Sir”

Maybe Sir Twiggy will arise next year. Then again, he is only 53 and might need to wait four decades until he is the same age as the Duke of Edinburgh.

The Metal Detective reckons that Gina Rinehart may have been on Abbott’s short-list, particularly as Kings traditionally place a high value on recruiting wealthy knights - or dames - to fund their costly campaigns.

And Dame Gina certainly has been long associated with royalty, in particular Hamersley Iron royalties.

But if not the two obvious candidates, who else put up their hand for higher honours last year?

Mining is not exactly the sport of kings, and is no longer Australia’s Golden Goose, but it does produce valuable income for the king’s treasury.

Unfortunately two of the former cash cows, iron ore and coal, are now rapidly shrinking and in danger of being sent off to the knacker’s yard.

Nevertheless, it would be fitting to recognise Tony Poli for his services to calling the end of the Pilbara iron ore “boom” at a time when Emperor Colin was still counting on $US120 per tonne iron ore prices to save WA from those greedy GST marauders from Canberra.

When China’s Baosteel and Aurizon lobbed their joint bid for Aquila Resources on May 5, the commodity was trading at $106/t.

By the time Tony pocketed his $A405 million acceptance cheque, the price had slipped to $US96/t and is now languishing at $63/t.

Arise, Sir Tony for your gift of foresight, personal enrichment and furthering China’s reputation for buying iron ore assets at inflated prices.

Alas poor iron ore! We knew him, Horatio.

What of nickel, though, that steel-making additive that some are tipping to have a big year in 2015, despite sluggish demand and sky-high LME stockpiles?

There are certainly a couple of nickel barons who seemingly tick all the right royal boxes.

Western Areas CEO Dan Lougher comes from the UK (tick), has a moustache (tick), and has provided loyal service in developing nickel mines with catchy names, such as Spotted Quoll and Flying Fox.

But his merits were overshadowed this week by Mark Bennett, the CEO of nickel wannabe Sirius Resources.

Up to now, Mark’s qualities might have escaped the attention of Abbott, unless he happened to be a keen stock punter.

But when a bloke begins development of Australia’s richest nickel discovery in decades on Australia Day, it has to bring him to the attention of the royal household.

And Bennett is a former Englishman, so arise Sir Mark!

What of the remainder?

Gold is always a commodity of interest to regents, particularly when their paper currency (i.e. the Aussie dollar) is headed down the drain.

Northern Star CEO Bill Beament is the stand-out choice for his outstanding work last year in cornering the market in discarded Australian gold mines.

But Beament is already dubbed Sir William so granting him the “official” title might be seen as an unnecessary luxury in these times of penury.

Perhaps we need to look further afield to Karl Simich, the CEO of Sandfire Resources which produces both gold and copper from the DeGrussa mine in WA.

Certainly there is an argument for knighting a squire who has actually developed a mine in recent times, as opposed to just talking about it.

And Sir Karl has the solid ring of German royalty about it.

But Abbot’s court whisperers will probably advise caution – by the time Karl gets knighted he may have run out of coppers.