Her Majesty goes shoeless inside Abu Dhabi mosque

Her Majesty goes shoeless inside Abu Dhabi mosque

Day 1: November 24, 2010 (Abu Dhabi)

The Queen and Duke of Edinburgh have arrived in Abu Dhabi for a five-day state visit to the Gulf. The monarch is in the region as part of government moves to renew the UK’s relationship with the Gulf Arab states. The Queen last visited the UAE in 1979 when she was a guest of founding father and ex-president of the Emirates, Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan al-Nahyan.

The Duke of York is also on the royal visit and was already in the UAE to greet his mother on arrival. The Queen was also greeted by the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, and several UAE ministers.

Her only engagement of the evening was to pay her respects at the tomb of the UAE’s founding father at Abu Dhabi’s Grand Mosque, where she was joined by UK Foreign Secretary William Hague and his wife Ffion.

Articles: Sky News | BBC News

Prince Philip refuses to shake hands with 11-year-old and asks Middle East ex-pats what they’re hiding from

the Queen was joined by the Duke of Edinburgh and the Duke of York and all three royals went on a walkabout meeting hundreds of British expats who were waving union and UAE flags.

Philip appeared to be in an irascible mood and when asked by a group of people if he would shake their hands, he said ‘I’ve got to get back to work’ and walked away. Further along the line of waving crowds, Jack Morgan, 11, who has lived in the UAE for the last 18 months with his parents, stuck out his hand and asked the royal for a shake. The Duke replied ‘why?’ but eventually relented.

Philip asked many in the crowd where they were from and when they replied he joked with them saying: “Are you running away from something?”

For the story and Prince Philips many gaffes throughout the years, read The Mail’s article.

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