That's Sir Nils Olav, to You

About twelve years ago, my sister and I visited our third sister who had married a man from South Africa and was spending most of the winter in Cape Town. One of the highlights of our trip was a visit to a beach where a colony of Jackass penguins live. It was fabulous--you sit on the beach and hundreds of penguins come right up to you. If they get too curious, a warden, wearing a full safari outfit and wielding a cane, comes and shoos them away.

So I was delighted to learn that a King penguin was knighted by Norway last Friday. It was quite an adorable sight on NBC News, the penguin waddling up and down the aisle of uniformed soldiers, sporting his knighthood badge on his right wing.

The relationship of the penguin to the Norwegian King's Guard goes back to 1972 when he was selected by lieutenant Nils Egelien to be the group's mascot. The guards often tour the Edinburgh Zoo, where the penguin lives, during the Edinburgh Military Tatoo, an annual military musical festival. The guards named the first penguin Nils Olav, after the lieutenant and then King Olav V. When the first penguin died, he was replaced by another penguin who inherited the name and rank.

The current penguin is the third one with the same name. He was promoted from honorable regimental sergeant major to honorary colonel in chief in 2005. The knighthood ceremony was full of pomp and circumstance. Nils Olav was escorted by the King's Guard Color Detachment and he reviewed the troops. British Major General Euan Loudon, on behalf of Norway's King Harald Loudon, touched the king's sword on both of Nils' shoulders and bestowed his new badge on his right wing.

For his part, Nils Olav seemed to take it all in stride. That's Sir Nils Olav, of course. And it seems as if there will always be one.