The Sojourner

One thing about living in the Emirates that is not commonplace in the West is the ubiquitous royalty.  In America, we eschewed our monarch in 1776.  Royalty in Europe where it still exists only surfaces on certain occasions including birth, nuptials, death, and scandal.

The seven Emirates are ruled by the royal families who have controlled them for centuries.  Individual sheikdoms range in size from Abu Dhabi with several million inhabitants to tiny Umm Al Quain with a population of only 65,000.  Primogeniture is the rule of the day, so the crown princes inherit the thrones.  With polygamy, there are a whole lot of princes and princesses in the families.

There is no national congress.  The control of the nation is wielded by the family leaders.  Until 1971 this part of the Middle East was known as the Trucial States of Oman.  With Bedouin ancestry, this worked for a long time but they decided that it would serve their interests to join together as the United Arab Emirates. The sheik of Abu Dhabi is the president and the leader of Dubai is the vice president of the United Arab Emirates.  The other emirs contribute to the direction of the nation; however, in their own sheikdoms they are truly kings.

With the rigidity of Islamic law and benign monarchs, everything works very well.  It is a very safe place to live.  From time-to-time, stories emerge about how the kings exhibit their power.  With delays for an appointment, a friend-of-a-friend who was conducting business with one of His Highness-es indicated that he had to depart to catch his flight.  The ruler signaled to an aid for the phone and instructed the tower to hold the plane on the tarmac until this gentlemen arrived.  Whether or not this really happened, it makes for great urban legend.

The royals are housed in sumptuous palaces.  The two companies with which I have worked have contributed to the appointments of several of these.  I have seen many from the air and from the road but I cannot share any images, since it is against the law to photograph these abodes.  In a later installment, I shall post a few pictures of a palace of Sheik Zayed in Al Ain.  This home is now a national museum since Sheik Zayed was the George Washington of the Emirates.

Unless there is a pre-arranged event, the closest that most persons come to the royals is watching them fly overhead.  Most travel by helicopter for security and since it is the fastest way to get around.  This is the same for heads of state everywhere.  It is a spectacle seeing the big choppers chugging away in the sky as they barely manage to stay aloft in the high density altitudes of the hot Arabian summers.

Occasionally, royals travel by car.  Yesterday while commuting to work, I came upon a big new BMW sedan with special plates doing 50 kph on Sheik Zayed Road.  This is the main freeway through Dubai and the slowest vehicles move along at 80 kph.  At the wheel was an elderly gentlemen in a dishdasha (shirt dress), keffiyeh (headress), and agal (holds the keffiyeh in place).  He was gesturing wildly to the other occupant of the vehicle and not paying attention to the road.  I imagined a conversation like, "Abdul, no helicopter today. Let's drive."  Of course Abdul thought that he would be driving.  All other drivers gave the big black car wide berth.

In the words of Mel Brooks, "It is good to be king!"