A very special visit from His Majesty the King of Norway’s Guard was made to RZSS Edinburgh Zoo on Monday, 22 August, to present an honor to our resident king penguin, Sir Nils Olav. This world-famous king penguin was already knighted, but he now holds the title “Brigadier Sir Nils Olav ”.

As a member of the Royal Norwegian Guard, Brigadier Sir Nils Olav is at the bottom of the rank list at less than three feet tall. A black-and-white king penguin lives at the Edinburgh Zoo and is climbing the ranks – he has been promoted to Brigadier!

In Scotland and Norway, it is a tradition to promote a penguin to symbolize the friendly relationship between the two nations. Three different penguins have played the role of Nils Olav over the years, since king penguins live about 15 years in the wild and slightly longer in captivity.

At the ceremony, 50 uniformed members of the Norwegian Guard attended, and the promotion was formally approved by the king of Norway during the ceremony announcing the promotion. Before getting a medal of honor pinned to his wings, the unflappable creature inspected the soldiers of the Guard (who looked appropriately starstruck).

Here is the video:

Did you ENJOY watching this? Let us know in the comments below…