Penguin bestowed knighthood
A retired senior Army officer has knighted a penguin on behalf of the King of Norway in a special ceremony at Edinburgh Zoo today, Friday 15 August 2008, reads a UK MoD release. Representative Colonel of the Royal Highland Fusiliers, 2nd Battalion Royal Regiment of Scotland and Chief Executive and Producer of the Edinburgh Tattoo, Major General Euan Loudon CBE, conferred the unusual knighthood on king penguin Nils Olav, in front of 130 members of the Norwegian King’s Guard.
Penguin Olav has been the unit’s mascot since the 1980s and since then has risen through the ranks to become its Honorary Colonel-in-Chief.
Picture: Mark Owens, MOD
It was on a visit to Edinburgh in 1962 that a young lieutenant called Nils Egelien first encountered the penguins at the Zoo. On a return visit ten years later he persuaded his regiment to sponsor a king penguin, which they duly adopted as their mascot, awarded the ‘rank’ of Lance Corporal, and named Nils Olav (after Nils Egelien and Norway’s then King Olav).
On subsequent visits to the Scottish capital Olav received promotion to Corporal in 1982, Sergeant in 1987, Regimental Sergeant Major in 1993, Honourable Regimental Sergeant Major in 2001 and Honorary Colonel-in-Chief in 2005.
Over 1,000 performers from across the world have been gathering to provide a wealth of entertainment at this year’s 59th Edinburgh Tattoo. All the traditional ingredients are present at this year’s event - massed pipes and drums, massed bands, the Lone Piper along with a number of impressive overseas offerings - for three spectacular weeks on the floodlit Esplanade of Edinburgh Castle until 23 August 2008.
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