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Norway – whose explorer Roald Amundsen was the first person to reach the South Pole in 1911 – presented Edinburgh Zoo with its first king penguin at its opening in 1913.[6]
When the Norwegian King's Guard visited the Edinburgh Military Tattoo of 1961 for a drill display,[7] a lieutenant called Nils Egelien became interested in the zoo's penguin colony. When the Guards once again returned to Edinburgh in 1972, he arranged for the unit to adopt a penguin. This penguin was named Nils Olav in honour of Nils Egelien and King Olav V of Norway.
Sir Nils inspects troops of the King's Guard, of which he is Colonel-in-Chief, following his knighthood ceremony in 2008
Nils Olav was given the rank of visekorporal (lance corporal) in the regiment? He has been promoted each time the King's Guard has returned to the zoo. In 1982 he was made a corporal, and promoted to sergeant in 1987. Nils Olav died shortly after his promotion to sergeant, and his place of was taken by Nils Olav II, a two-year-old near-double. He was promoted in 1993 to the rank of regimental sergeant major. On 18 August 2005, he was appointed as Colonel-in-Chief of the same regiment.[8] The next honour was a knighthood, awarded during a visit by soldiers from the Norwegian King's Guard on 15 August 2008.[9] The honour was approved by King Harald V and Nils was the first penguin to receive such an honour in the Norwegian Army.[10] During the ceremony a crowd of several hundred people joined the 130 guardsmen at the zoo to hear a citation from the King read out, which described Nils as a penguin "in every way qualified to receive the honour and dignity of knighthood".[6]
The bronze statue of Nils Olav
During the 2008 visit a 4-foot-high (1.2 m) bronze statue of Nils Olav was presented to Edinburgh Zoo. The statue's inscription recognises the King's Guard and the Military Tattoo. A statue also stands at the King's Guard compound at Huseby, Oslo. In Norway he is consistently referred to only as the mascot[citation needed] of the King's Guard, although the plaque on his statue refers to his appointment as Colonel-in-Chief.[citation needed]
A third penguin, Nils Olav III, took over between 2008 and 2016.[1] On 22 August 2016 he was promoted to Brigadier in a ceremony attended by over 50 members of the King's Guard.[1][11]