Nils Olav: The Knighted King Penguin.
Updated: Jan 6, 2021
His name is Nils Olav. His title is Brigadier Sir Nils Olav III. He is a King Penguin.
He has been a member of the Norwegian King's Guard since 1972.
Why is Nils Olav in the military service of the country of Norway?
Why is he a part of the Norwegian King's Guard?
Well.
When the Norwegian King's Guard attended Edinburgh, Scotland, for a military display in 1961, a lieutenant named Nils Egelien became interested in the King penguins at the zoo.
Once the King's Guard regiment returned to Norway, they arranged to adopt a penguin.
The King Penguin was named 'Nils Olav' in honor of Nils Egelien and King Olav V of Norway.
Nils Olav started his military career with a title of lance corporal, but he has been promoted every time the regiment has returned to the zoo. His promotions have been as follows:
Lance corporal - 1972.
Sergeant - 1987.
Nils Olav I died shortly thereafter and was substituted with a body double - Nils Olav II. But Nils Olav II had as spectacular a military career as Nils Olav I as is obvious from his titles.
Regimental Sergeant Major - 1993.
Honorable Regimental Sergeant Major - 2001.
Colonel-in-Chief - 2005.
Knighthood - 2008.
The knighthood was given by King Harald V of Norway, who stated that Nils Olav II was in "in every way qualified to receive the honor and dignity of knighthood".
The ceremony was attended by 130 guardsmen and hundreds of people and reporters.
Major General Euan Loudon officiated.
A sword was 'dubbed' on each side of Nils Olav - II's head because that's where Nils Olav's shoulders would have been, had he had shoulders. The traditional knighting is touching the flat side of the ceremonial knighting sword on the shoulders of the person being knighted.
As the BBC stated:
The proud penguin was on his best behaviour throughout most of the ceremony, but shortly before the ritual was concluded and possibly suffering a bout of nerves he was seen to deposit a discreet white puddle on the ground.
Drawing a polite veil over that, Darren McGarry, animal collection manager at the zoo, said afterwards: "It went extremely well and we are delighted that the Norwegian Guard honored Nils Olav with a knighthood."
Nils Olav II inspected the troops and accepted his honor.
But died shortly thereafter. He has now been substituted by a third body double.
Nils Olav III.
Who became Brigadier in 2016.
Nils Olav, the penguin, now outranks Nils Egelien - the human.
Comments