Don’t Call Him the Goat

In this our fourth installment of our (quite) occasional series on famous real-life critters, we turn the spotlight on William Windsor, a Kashmir goat, who retired this week from the British Army at the ripe old age of 9.

William Windsor, aka Billy (must be contractual), served as a lance corporal in 1st Battalion, the Royal Welsh (including a two-and-a-half year post in Cyprus) and performed his ceremonial duties as regimental goat by marching in front of the battalion. The tradition of the regimental goat dates back to America’s Revolutionary War and the Crimean War many decades later.

Billy the Goat will spend his golden years at Whipsnade Zoo, outside Dunstable in Central England.