It is not always considered positive for the ruling family of a dictatorship to make a public display of mixing with the people.
On Monday, Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed al-Nahyan, a royal who is president of the United Arab Emirates and ruler of Abu Dhabi, joined Dubai’s crown prince, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, for a stroll through the Dubai Mall, before sitting next to uncomfortable-looking officials on the banquette-style seating of one of its most visible cafes.
“French kings always ate in public. I kind of like this,” noted one observer on social media.
It didn’t work for the Bourbons.
At least three people, expatriate workers from Pakistan, Nepal and Bangladesh, have been killed and up to 68 injured as a result of falling debris from intercepted Iranian airstrikes targeting the Gulf States since Saturday.
A dramatic explosion at Dubai’s world-famous Fairmont hotel provided a spectacle worthy of the headlines.
An estimated 250,000 British citizens have experienced both the shock of the moment and the subsequent top-down PR effort to maintain trust: a diverse community of fintech entrepreneurs, the super-rich, salon workers, retirees and early-career professionals, many of whom have been attracted by the UAE’s 0% income tax rate and year-round sunshine.
For a British expat, who had only been living in Dubai for a few months working in the financial services industry, Saturday morning had been a double shock to the system.
After hearing the explosion of impacts, he shared a BBC video with his colleagues, but was told to delete it.
The United Arab Emirates had issued a warning that sharing unverified content was a crime punishable by imprisonment. The Internet also appeared to briefly go down.
“I imagine some might find that oppressive,” he said. “I think some Brits might have used the map for the first time to see exactly where they lived.”
Could this be the beginning of the end of British expansion in the United Arab Emirates, where the rulers have always considered security as one of their main attractions?
While sympathy has been expressed in the UK for the cause of those caught up in Donald Trump’s war against Iran, a hint of joy at the misfortune at home has been evident.
A Daily Mail headline containing socialite Petra Ecclestone’s tearful testimony read: “‘I’ve never been hit by an Iranian missile on my way to Asda’: Internet gloats over terrified Dubai influencers after Iranian drone bombing of expat paradise.”
In the House of Commons, Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey, referring to “tax exiles” such as Isabel Oakeshott, a journalist and partner of Reform UK deputy leader Richard Tice, said the price of British protection for Britons living in the UAE should be paying their taxes “to support our armed forces, just like the rest of us do”.
Another Daily Mail headline read: “End of Dubai dream.”
Caught during a period when airspace over the United Arab Emirates was closed, some rushed to the border with Oman to fly from there. More than 100,000 British citizens have registered their presence in the Gulf region with the Foreign Office, following its advice.
Private schools with Hogwarts-style vibes, including Repton Dubai and Dubai International Academy, have been closed until further notice. Many British citizens are working from home on the advice of the authorities.
However, this is only part of the picture, according to Justin Harper, a former Daily Mail journalist and currently editor of CEO Middle East, a business news website.
He was celebrating his birthday by taking his family on a road trip to the Iranian border from his home in Dubai when the missiles arrived, but he said he soon felt confident that authorities had the situation under control.
“I don’t want to sound indifferent, but it’s business as usual for me,” said Harper, who returned to work Monday. “While my children will continue to be homeschooled for the next few days, it appears we are already getting back to normal.”
He added: “You can choose who you listen to, whether it’s celebrities, influencers or people who are overly dramatic. “There’s a lot of envy of the Dubai lifestyle and people are quick to tear it down, but it’s open to anyone.
“I think in terms of the long-term implications we will weather the storm quickly. Having spoken to colleagues and many Britons who have been here for more than 20 years, they have experienced a lot of scares and stresses and you just get over it, because they tend to be very short-term… I think the smart thing to do is to think that nothing materially will change.”
A number of big-name retail franchises have followed the Brits to the UAE, including those of celebrity chefs Gordon Ramsay, Heston Blumenthal and Gary Rhodes. Can they continue to flourish?
Natasha Hatherall, who has lived in Dubai for 16 years and runs a large marketing agency serving the retail industry, among others, said she had signed a business contract earlier that day.
“I also own a lot of the big community (chat) groups here, so I think I’m really in tune with the sentiment and what’s going on. And I think everyone says, ‘I feel safer here than anywhere else.’ We’re not getting on a plane to go anywhere.”
Katharine Budd, a fintech entrepreneur who splits her time between Dubai and Austria, said it was not just Brits who had flocked to the UAE in large numbers in recent years.
“All the big companies (MasterCard, Visa) and all the big law firms moved all their staff from Russia and Ukraine at the beginning of the war,” he said. “At first it was all people with rich jobs, but now you have girls in the nail salon. You know, at all levels. The (road) signs are in Russian, if you go to the cinema, they show Russian films. I don’t think Dubai is going to lose. I don’t think those Russians and Ukrainians are going to come back.”
Budd added that releasing some demand in the UAE property market could be a good thing. “How many Brits have previously lived in Dubai?” she said. “There’s a big group of people who think, ‘Yeah, I shouldn’t have left. Life in the UK isn’t so good now, and you know, it’s a bit cheaper to live in the UAE now.’ I think this might be my time to come back.”
Flights from Dubai have restarted. Azad Zangana of Oxford Economics said he would expect the tourism industry to take between a year and two to recover.
A Disneyland theme park is scheduled to open in Abu Dhabi between 2030 and 2033. But Zangana said there was confidence in the United Arab Emirates that Iran would seek a truce soon, downplaying the impact on the broader economy. “And oil isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.”
