I follow the Norwegian Prime Minister, Jens Stoltenberg, on Facebook (along with about 106,800 other people) and have been a wee bit captivated by his recent posts about a female duck that has taken up residence on the office PM veranda. The first missive, complete with the adorable photograph above, appeared on May 16, with updates later informing us the duck has laid nine eggs and also announcing a little Facebook contest to choose a name for the expectant mother duck. The very cute, if a bit obvious, “Veranda,” prevailed over such suggestions as Lame Duck (how mean!!), Anna, Andonym, and Urband. All of those names make more sense when you know that the Norwegian word for duck is “and,” pronounced “ond,” like “pond” without the “p.”

Another name proposed for the Ducky Mum was “PropagANDa,” a pointed dig at Stoltenberg’s publicizing of his sweet little feathery friend at a time when the PM is suffering a bit in the polls here at home. His dramatic drop in popularity is the result of a near-catastrophic miscalculation Stoltenberg made a few weeks ago when he decided not to invite King Harald to a big medal-presenting military ceremony the government put on to mark Norway’s first Veteran’s Day. (Note: Veteran’s Day here used to be called Liberation Day and was a remembrance of the day in 1945 when the German occupying army left the country. The government changed it to Veteran’s Day this year to make the day more inclusive of those men and women who have performed military duties since World War II.)

Handing out medals to military personnel is sort of a “kingly” thing to do, don’t you think? I think so, and apparently so does most of Norway because the reaction to Stoltenberg’s exclusion of King Harald from the ceremony was explosive, to say the least. The media was pretty much non-stop, “What was he thinking?” for days afterward, and the leaders of the opposition political parties were almost comical in the speed with which they pounced on the PM’s newfound vulnerability. I found it especially amusing that Siv Jensen, FrP’s sex-scandal-disgraced leader, was out and about shrieking that Stoltenberg must apologize to the King immediately. She, who never demanded that her perverted party colleague, Trond Birkedal, apologize to the naked men he secretly photographed or to the boy with whom he allegedly had sex. Her galling lack of shame continues to fascinate me.

At first, Stoltenberg was unrepentant, explaining that this Veteran’s Day celebration was all about the government and the parliament expressing their gratitude and admiration for the service of the men and women in Norway’s military. He said he did not “snub” the King and had, in fact, been in touch with the monarch prior to the ceremony to make sure he understood what was happening and why. For his part, King Harald backed up Stoltenberg’s version of events.

Part of me really sympathizes with Stoltenberg. I mean, it is the government that gets the military involved in wars around the world, so it seems only reasonable that they say thank you once in a while. But a bigger part of me thinks these kinds of ceremonies are exactly what Kings and Queens are for---it’s what they do, right? What’s the point of having them around if they’re not going to glam up a military ceremony? And, remember, this controversial ceremony occurred on May 8, a little over a week after The Wedding of The Century in London---people were still high on Kate and Wills! Kings and Queens were all the rage! Honestly, what was Stoltenberg thinking?

Anyway, the fever pitch of emotion over this incident has died down but the PM is still bruised and hurting. Is he using Veranda the Duck to soften us up, let him sneak back into our hearts? Is he that obvious? I don’t know but it’s working! I’m smitten with Veranda and her nine eggs and Jens’ commitment to her care and well-being. If I could “Like” him all over again on Facebook, I would.

In the meantime, I’ll wait with my 106,800 fellow followers to see how many of the nine eggs become adorable little chicks and then what happens to them. According to Views and News From Norway, Stoltenberg has “insisted that the duck will have to return to the park when her offspring are well-hatched and old enough to walk,” and he promised that “adequate escort will be provided for the duck family.” Awwww. Maybe he should invite the King to come along and make sure everything goes okay!