William came on his own time (the prince is training to be a helicopter rescue pilot, and he's on vacation now) and the Queen picked up the tab, so Australia did not have to pay.

The prince had no formal duties, such as opening the new Supreme Court building in New Zealand, and made just one official (and amusing) speech, at Government House in Melbourne on Thursday.

The idea that the palace wasn't watching to see how the prince was received, as it were, well, that's just silly.

The visit of Prince William is an opportunity to restate the case for limited monarchy. One can be forgiven for ambivalence towards our system since its defenders at the last referendum, Australians for Constitutional Monarchy, ran a dishonest but winning campaign.

By campaigning on "Not this republic", it admitted defeat on the core principle and damaged the credibility of its good cause. Part of me would prefer Australia was a wholehearted republic than a grudging, limited monarchy, yet the case for celebrating our present arrangements is compelling.