The day Queen Elizabeth II opened Jebel Ali Port in Dubai in February 1979

Prince William retraced his grandmother's footsteps this week on his first official UAE visit

Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip watch a display of dancing at the Al Ain airstrip in Abu Dhabi ahead of their trip to Dubai in February 1979. Tim Graham Photo Library via Getty Images

The importance of Jebel Ali Port in UAE history cannot be overstated.

Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed, who was Dubai's Ruler between 1958 and 1990, had made the decision to build a port 40 kilometres outside the centre of the city, in the tiny town of Jebel Ali.

It was a move that concerned some, as they thought it may take business away from Port Rashid, which had opened only seven years earlier, but still he pressed ahead.

Those worries were soon washed away as Jebel Ali Port, which was inaugurated by Queen Elizabeth II in February 1979, went on to become the largest man-made deepwater harbour, one of the busiest ports in the Middle East and one of the biggest in the world.

February 26, 1979 was a historic day in more ways than one, as it fell during Queen Elizabeth's first trip to the UAE as monarch.

She was on a three-day visit with her husband Prince Philip to the UAE, which was then only eight years old, and had arrived on Saturday, February 24 in Abu Dhabi to meet Sheikh Zayed, the Founding Father.

The next day, on Sunday, she flew from Al Ain to Dubai, to meet Sheikh Rashid, who she'd seen 10 years earlier in London.

It was on the Monday that the queen formally opened Jebel Ali Port, along with a desalination port. “It is one of man's ancient dreams to turn the desert green and seawater fit for drinking,” she was quoted as saying by the newspaper Al Ittihad. “Here in Dubai, this dream will become reality.”

Today, the port's four terminals accommodate the world's largest ships and about 10 per cent of the planet’s global container traffic passes through it. More than 8,000 companies hailing from over 100 countries are based there, according to the free zone, and it's created 135,000 jobs.

It stands as a benchmark of success now, but its construction was no easy feat. Land was reclaimed, roads were built and an entire village was created to accommodate the hundreds of workers who made it all happen.

What was once a small town on the outskirts of an exciting, burgeoning city has become a beacon of economic growth and, thanks to Expo 2020 Dubai, Al Maktoum International Airport and Dubai South, not to mention the UAE's coming Etihad Rail, is inching its way into the centre of the emirate's future.

Prince William, who this week embarked on his first official trip to the UAE, retraced her footsteps at the docks on Thursday, 43 years on.

The port's owner, DP World, along with Emirates and Etihad, is a major contributor to the Duke of Cambridge's United for Wildlife campaign to tackle a global criminal animal trafficking trade worth $150 billion. And so the British royal visited to see how customs officers tackle the illegal trade in wildlife, which is among the world’s five most lucrative crimes and is often run by highly organised criminal gangs.

Their demonstration, which the duke watched with an eagle eye, showed how the scale of the task facing Jebel Ali Port's workers has changed, but is no less significant more than four decades after Queen Elizabeth stepped foot there.

See photos from Prince William's first official UAE visit here: