Uncle Nigel

Uncle Nigel is Private's uncle.

Uncle Nigel is first mentioned in All Choked Up, where Private mentions while watching a documentary called "Carnage of the Penguins," that the penguin about to be eaten by a leopard seal looks just like his Uncle Nigel. However it was either not Nigel, or possibly a cover for disappearing, since he comes to visit in A Visit From Uncle Nigel.

In All King, No Kingdom, Private says that Nigel always said "In the voyage of life, the best boat is a friend-ship."

In A Visit From Uncle Nigel, Nigel is shown to be an English spy looking for The Red Squirrel, the same one sought by Special Agent Buck Rockgut. His cover is that he loves to talk about sissy adventures and doilies as much as Private, and he congratulates Private on his own "cover". He leaves feeling very proud of Private - although Private's victories were due to luck and genuine sissiness, he is not taking credit for anybody else's victories, and simply agrees to Nigel's assumptions.

Nigel may be the greatest penguin spy alive, although this is subject to opinion

Role in the series
It is revealed in Going Commando that Uncle Nigel is a spy because of his work. His brother and Private's biological father was also a penguin commando who trained in Antarctica with Buck Rockgut, but as they were planning an ultimate raid to catch The Red Squirrel, they were attacked by White Widow's forces, resulting in both Private's parents being lost, and his egg to be placed in the flippers of Skipper, Kowalski and Rico. Uncle Nigel has since been seeking out both White Widow and Red Squirrel when Buck went into hiding. This mission set him on a direct course to Private's doorstep as the events of Visit From Uncle Nigel was the result when he finally found the last clue to his location. He still waits to tell the story of Private's parents to this day.