Colonel-in-chief

Colonel-in-chief is a ceremonial position in a military regiment. It is in common use in several Commonwealth armies, where it is held by the regiment's patron, usually a member of the royal family.

Some armed forces take a light-hearted approach to the position, appointing animals or characters as colonel-in-chief. The Norwegian Army, for example, appointed a king penguin named Sir Nils Olav as a colonel-in-chief.[1][2]

  1. ^ Norwegian Consulate in Edinburgh. Archived September 23, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
  2. ^ "Military penguin becomes a 'Sir'". BBC News. 15 August 2008. Retrieved 13 September 2015.