The Edinburgh Zoo and Norway have a long history of penguins dating back to 1914, when the Norwegian family of Christian Salvesen gave the zoo its first king penguin. This Sir Nils Olav is only 14 years old and has at least 10 more years as an honorary member of the KingвЂ™s Guard. Nicholl said the title stands for the duration of the penguinвЂ™s life. The current Sir Nils Olav is the third penguin to bear the name. вЂњThey hold a straight face the whole way through.вЂќ Norways practice of awarding honours to penguins dates back to 1972 when a king penguin at Edinburgh Zoo was named after two people including the then-King of.

вЂњThey (the soldiers) actually do really well,вЂќ she said. Nicholl said the guardsmen maintained their composure during the entirety of the penguinвЂ™s parade. вЂњSince then, heвЂ™s been moved up the ranks all the way up to his current title today,вЂќ she said.ДЄt Monday morningвЂ™s ceremony, the decorated penguin slowly made his way up the zooвЂ™s Penguin Walk inspecting the GuardвЂ™s uniformed soldiers. Nicholl says the KingвЂ™s Guard returned in 1982 and decided to make the king penguin their mascot by giving him the rank of lance corporal. That penguin was named Nils Olav after Egelien and NorwayвЂ™s king at the time, King Olav. вЂњThey were seeing the king penguins and they loved them that much that the major at the time, Nils Egelien, decided that heвЂ™d quite like to adopt one of the penguins,вЂќ Nicholl said. This year, they paid a special visit to the RZSS Edinburgh Zoo to bestow the king penguin with his prestigious new title.Дawn Nicholl, a senior penguin keeper at the Edinburgh Zoo, told CTV News Channel on Tuesday that the history of Nils Olav goes back to 1972, when the Norwegian KingвЂ™s Guard visited the zoo while they were in Edinburgh for that yearвЂ™s military tattoo. The KingвЂ™s Guard was in town to take part in the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo, an annual military music festival which happens every August. He also happens to be a penguin, and a very distinguished one at that. The brigadier was knighted in 2008 and has already been a corporal, a sergeant, a sergeant-major and a colonel-in-chief.

More than 50 soldiers of the king of Norway's guard stood in line patiently, waiting to be inspected by the newly titled Brigadier Sir Nils Olav in Edinburgh, Scotland on Monday.

Penguin knighthood