Timeframe: Margaret Thatcher's visit to Ras Al Khaimah in 1998

As the current British Prime Minister Theresa May battles on we look back on the trip 'The Iron Lady' made to the emirate two decades ago

British former Prime Minister Baroness Margaret Thatcher (L) protests against having her picture taken as she walks alongside Sheikh Faysal Bin Saqr Al Qasimi (2L), chairman of the new free trade zone in Ras Al Khaimah emirate, 24 March. Al-Qasimi danced a traditional Bedouin dance with the former British Prime Minister, who is in the emirate for the opening of an exhibition for British companies.. (Photo by RABIH MOGHRABI / AFP)
Powered by automated translation

A week after Britain's current prime minister and leader of the Conservative Party Theresa May survived a vote of no confidence in her leadership (200 to 117) amid tensions surrounding her Brexit deal, we came across this photo of former prime minister Margaret Thatcher during her visit to Ras Al Khaimah in 1998.

Thatcher, who held office from 1979 to 1990 and led the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1980, first visited the UAE in 1981, when she was in the capital to assist with negotiations for the supply of military hardware and training facilities to the UAE.

Seventeen years later, "The Iron Lady" travelled to Ras Al Khaimah for the opening of a British exhibition, and as the story of this image goes, she was none too happy to have her picture taken, waving the photographers away as she walked alongside Sheikh Faisal Bin Saqr Al Qasimi, chairman of the new Ras Al Khaimah Free Trade Zone.

Thatcher was a tough woman who, like May, led the United Kingdom through some difficult times. She died in 2013.

________________

Read more:

Timeframe: Dubai's Armani Hotel, from the beginning in 2005

Timeframe: Before the Louvre Abu Dhabi bloomed on Saadiyat Island

Timeframe: Cultivating a culture of crop growth in Abu Dhabi in 1969

Timeframe: UAE flag raised for the first time at the UN in 1971

________________