Editing Order of Australia (section)

===Officials of the order===
*Sovereign Head of the Order: [[Monarchy of Australia|King of Australia]] ([[Charles III]])
*[[Principal of the Order of Australia|Chancellor and Principal Companion]]: [[Governor-General of Australia]] ([[Samantha Mostyn]])
*Secretary: [[Official Secretary to the Governor-General of Australia]] ([[Gerard Martin (public servant)|Gerard Martin]])

[[Charles III|King Charles III]], when he was [[Prince of Wales]], was appointed a Knight of the Order of Australia (AK) on 14 March 1981.  As he is not an Australian citizen, even though he was the heir to the Australian throne at the time, this would have required the award to be honorary.  To overcome this issue, his appointment was created by an amendment to the constitution of the Order of Australia by special letters patent signed by the Queen, on the recommendation of Prime Minister [[Malcolm Fraser]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2010Q00036 |title=Order of Australia – Constitution – Letters Patent – Amendment – 14/03/1981 |work=[[Commonwealth of Australia Gazette]] |date=14 March 1981 |access-date=17 May 2012 |archive-date=23 October 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211023215634/https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2010Q00036 |url-status=live }}</ref>

In March 2014 the knight and dame levels, which had been abolished in 1986 by Prime Minister [[Bob Hawke]], were reintroduced to the Order of Australia by [[Tony Abbott]]. At the same time, Abbott announced that future appointments at this level would be recommended by the prime minister alone, rather than by the Council of the Order of Australia, as is the case with all lower levels of the order. In accordance with the statutes of 2014, [[Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh]], was created a Knight of the Order by letters patent signed by the Queen on 7 January 2015, on Abbott's advice.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2015G00155 |title=Amendments to the Constitution of the Order of Australia |date=30 January 2015 |publisher=Government Notices Gazette C2015G00155 |access-date=20 January 2017 |archive-date=2 November 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211102053628/https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2015G00155 |url-status=live }}</ref> Prince Philip's knighthood was announced as part of the [[Australia Day]] Honours on 26 January 2015 and his appointment attracted criticism of what Abbott described as his "captain's call".  Abbott responded by announcing that future recommendations for appointments as Knights and Dames of the Order would be determined by the Council of the Order of Australia.{{Citation needed|date=May 2024}}