A nobel animal indeed

Once in a while you come across a story that makes you go "huh?" This was the case for me, when I came across this story in the NY Times

King penguin receives Norwegian knighthood

Nils Olav already has medals for good conduct and long service. He made honorary colonel-in-chief of the elite Norwegian King's Guard in 2005. And on Friday he was knighted. Not bad for a 3-foot tall penguin -- actually, three of them.

A resident of Edinburgh Zoo in Scotland, the original Nils Olav was made an honorary member of the King's Guard in 1972 after being picked out as the guard's mascot by lieutenant Nils Egelien. The guards adopted him because they often toured the zoo during their visits to the Edinburgh Military Tattoo, an annual military music festival, according to zoo spokeswoman Maxine Finlay.

Go on, read it all - it's a throughout silly story, that probably will make you smile. And I think it quite well demonstrates the utility of royalty - if they have nothing better to do than giving knighthoods to penguins, why not abolish them?