Timeframe: When Princess Diana charmed the UAE

The United Kingdom's Prince and Princess of Wales visited the Middle East in 1989

During a six-day trip to the Middle East in 1989, the UK's Prince and Princess of Wales visited the UAE. The couple's mission was to improve business relations between Britain and the region.

On March 15, they attended a camel race at Al Maqam track in Al Ain, where Princess Diana is pictured here, the epitome of 1980s style, in oversized sunglasses, a peach suit and pearls. Diana is sat between Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak, now the Minister of Tolerance, and Charles, who is sat near Sheikh Tahnoun bin Mohammed.

The trip was a sartorial statement in modesty for the power-dressing princess. Despite the heat she’d surely have been unused to, she appeared cool and composed at every engagement, which included a meal in the private majlis of Sheikh Zayed, the Founding Father, to which she wore white trousers under a blue and white floral shalwar kameez.

Updated: March 17, 2019, 8:36 AM