Master of ceremonies has been with UAE royal family from the beginning

Dr Al Bab, an expert on protocol, talks about how official protocol in the UAE has changed since Sheikh Zayed became president.

Dr Nabil Fath Al Bab, front right, was hired by Sheikh Zayed, centre, when he was working for Anwar Sadat in Cairo in 1971. Photo courtesy Nabil Fath Al Bab

In the early days, Dr Fath Al Bab recalls, it was all much simpler.

The news that Sheikh Zayed was to travel overseas in his role as President of the United Arab Emirates would spread across the city.

The shops would close and everyone would head to the airport, says Dr Al Bab, the first chief of protocol at the Ministry of Presidential Affairs.

"All nationalities - Emiratis, Arabs and Indians. They would say, 'Sheikh Zayed is travelling, we have to greet him.' And when he comes back, again the shops are closed and the airport is packed with people to welcome him back."

Such a system could not exist for long. The excitement of being spontaneously greeted at the airport might hold for ordinary travellers, but when royalty and official visits are involved the rules are different and tact is called for.

So a system of invitations was introduced for the ruler's trips overseas, and with it the birth of official protocol in the UAE.

Dr Al Bab is the expert on protocol. Born in Egypt, he first worked for the former president, Gamal Abdel Nasser, and then his successor, Anwar Sadat. In 1971, the year the UAE was formed, he helped to receive Sheikh Zayed during his official visit to Cairo.

He was offered his new job at the airport. As Sheikh Zayed prepared to board the aircraft to fly home, he turned to Sadat and asked permission to bring Dr Al Bab to Abu Dhabi.

"Go ahead," was Sadat's response. Not sure if he was expected to start immediately, Dr Al Bab put one foot towards the aircraft stairs and then asked for two days to make arrangements with his family.

Dr Al Bab may have held a grand title, but he remembers his offices "were a one-floor building on Khalifa Street". Later he moved to Al Manhal Palace, Sheikh Zayed's official residence, and finally to the current location in the diwan of the Ministry of Presidential Affairs.

"When I first came, one of my responsibilities was to train the locals in the system of international protocol after the tribal way of living in this region," says Dr Al Bab.

"However, it all went smoothly."

Among the rules of protocol is that a president must always be received by a president. It would be unthinkable for a sheikh or a president to arrive and find no one to greet him. "Everything must be expected and calculated," he says.

"If you don't know the protocol, the unexpected might happen," he says. "There is no room for coincidence."

As a guide, he had the example of the first President. "Sheikh Zayed has always been humble, and he followed international protocol and traditions as it should be.

"He always told us to guide him throughout what's supposed to be done, and he happily followed it."

Dr Al Bab says when monarchs meet on a state occasion they always "get along well because they have the same system and are so much alike. They take protocol very seriously".