Sir Penguin

Every day at Edinburgh Zoo, the penguins come out for a walk.

They meander around, mingle with the crowds and are generally charming.

I was there quite a lot while a student in Edinburgh, even meeting up with my Mum when she brought her classes on school trips. The penguins always delighted everyone.

Apparently, back in the 70s, they delighted the Norwegian King’s Guard so much that they adopted one as an honourary member and mascot. He was called Nils Olav and has worked his way up through the ranks over the years to become Colonel-In-Chief.

(You think your boss is bad? At least you don’t work for a penguin. Or maybe you do…)

Today, they took things a step further.

The king had Nils knighted.

You can watch the whole thing, with citation and sword-bopping here:

BBC NEWS | UK | Scotland | Penguin becomes a ‘Sir’.

Those wacky Norwegians.

The worst part? It’s not even the original penguin…