UAE remembers the last 'big day'

Reminiscing about the last UK royal wedding as seen from the UAE.

Prince Charles and his bride Princess Diana wave from a balcony of Buckingham Palace on their wedding day in London in July 1981.

DUBAI // When Lady Diana Spencer walked down the aisle in 1981 to marry Prince Charles, people in the UAE celebrated the same way they will today, glued to televisions at house and hotel parties everywhere.

The excitement of 1981 was not limited to regular folks.

Zaki Nusseibeh, the official translator for Sheikh Zayed, founder of the UAE, and now to Sheikh Khalifa, President of the UAE and Ruler of Abu Dhabi, said that day was special for the royal family.

"The Prince of Wales met Sheikh Zayed before, and he was highly admired by the Sheikh and the family," he said. He added that the children of Sheikh Zayed knew Prince Charles.

"It was like a family when somebody close to them was getting married. The wedding was a world event and it captured its imagination. It was the wedding of the century."

Thirty years ago the suburbs of Dubai ended at the Trade Centre roundabout, with almost nothing but desert between Satwa and Abu Dhabi. Western expatriates did most of their socialising in Deira and Sharjah, and that is where most of the celebrations took place.

Longtime residents still remember the event. Brian Wilkie, 62, ran Wilkie's Wine Bar in the Royal Ascot Hotel at the time. He said his establishment was filled with patrons who watched the ceremony. Mr Wilkie's bar, one of only a few in Dubai, was a meeting point for the city's expatriates at weekends. But at that point in Dubai's history, the growing city was still dogged with power cuts and Mr Wilkie was unsure if his patrons would get the chance to watch it.

"Things were a lot quieter back then," he said. "You couldn't buy bunting and flags or anything like that. There was much more going on at peoples houses."

Before James Magee, 50, went to Wilkie's that evening, he was at a pool party in a villa in Karama.

"Everyone was all around the pool having a great time and kids were running around playing games," he said. By the time the estimated 150 guests gathered around the television, the party was in full swing.

"Everybody watched the parade towards the cathedral. Everyone wanted to see the dress and the parade; it was just another excuse to party."

Mr Magee said the older generation back in the UK saw the wedding as a historic moment, but the younger expatriate set was not as excited. Without the modern media hype and being thousands of miles away, the occasion was not as big as it is today.

Mr Nusseibh said this time around, the wedding would be watched by all ages.

"It's obviously exciting to see young couples marry and they are very close to us and the Crown Prince. There are close relations between the two families," he said.

When Prince Charles and Princess Diana visited in 1989, Mr Nusseibh was there to translate. "Sheikh Zayed was very happy to meet them. Diana made a big impression and Charles is very close to the royal family here. They were young, obviously, but she was quite a captivating person."