Dubai: The UAE is “literally second to none” worldwide in its generosity to international aid programmes, the Prince of Wales said on Tuesday, during the first leg of his Dubai tour.

Prince Charles, who is Britain’s heir to the throne, was speaking at the International Humanitarian City, an aid logistics hub on the outskirts of Dubai.

Prince Charles and his wife Camilla, the Duchess of Wales, are currently on the last day of a three-day tour of the UAE.

He called the complex “an enduring and tangible testament” to the “compassion” of its founder, His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, and its chair, Princess Haya Bint Al Hussain, wife of Shaikh Mohammad.

Set up in 2007 by Shaikh Mohammad, the aid logistics complex houses nine UN aid agencies and over 50 other aid groups.

In October, on the instructions of Shaikh Mohammad, the IHC sent 90 metric tonnes of aid to Haiti, to help in the aftermath of Hurricane Mathew, which killed 1,600 people and left 175,000 homeless.

“The United Arab Emirates and the broad spectrum of support that they offer could not be more needed in these complicated times,” Prince Charles told an audience of dignitaries, aid officials and journalists.

“It is, of course, merely a part of their long track record in helping those who are affected by natural disaster, not to mention the 65 million who are displaced by conflict.”

The wider UAE’s help towards global humanitarian work is just “one facet of Shaikh Zayed’s [Bin Sultan Al Nahyan] remarkable legacy”, Prince Charles added, referring to the UAE’s first president and founding father.

Prince Charles also discussed concerns over environmental damage and climate change — some of the issues he is known to be most passionate about.

He warned that unsustainable water use, atmospheric pollution, soil degradation, species extinction, shrinking tropical forests and “desecration” of oceans was undermining the “planet’s natural capital”.

“We are it seems, ladies and gentlemen, determined, absolutely determined, to test the planet’s ecosystems to destruction,” he said.

Together with climate change, which he referred to as the “greatest risk multiplier of all”, and political and economic instability, the world’s most vulnerable people are affected first.

Effective disaster response, such as the type organised from the Dubai aid complex, is the best solution, and greater cooperation, the prince added.

“We need to pull together collectively, and this means identifying all types of support, including public, private and philanthropic capital.”

The royal couple had arrived by helicopter at the aid complex, and were greeted by Princess Haya.

Along with their entourage, several dozen dignitaries, officials and reporters, Prince Charles, Camilla and Princess Haya walked around the IHC aid warehouse complex, supply crates, and white UN vehicles.

Royal style

Prince Charles, together with Princess Haya, toured a container-sized humanitarian response depot, inspected aid crates and solar panel units. He also sampled water from a special device that extracts water from air.

Camilla, meanwhile, inspected a tent designed to house refugees, and an armoured Toyota Landcruiser designed to operate in conflict and disaster zones.

Then, arriving at a specially set up tent for their visit, the royal couple watched a short video displaying the work of various international aid agencies working from Dubai.

True to his clean-cut sartorial style, well-known back in the UK, Prince Charles wore a three-button grey chalk-striped suit, gray jacquard tie, light blue shirt, and mirror-polished burgundy shoes.

His dapper outfit was accompanied by gold cufflinks and a large gold ring on his little finger.

Princess Haya wore a double pearl necklace, floor-length off-white dress embroidered with floral designs, and flat sandals with gold straps. She carried an oversized white clutch.

Camilla, meanwhile, carried a lacy white parasol to shade her from the heat, a cream salwar kameez with a white scarf and white loose-fitting trousers, and wedges with white straps.

Both Camilla and Charles wore Remembrance Day poppies, which mark the end of the First World Year almost 98 years ago.

In the afternoon, the royal couple split up to tour different sites. Prince Charles visited the Expo 2020 headquarters, next to Dubai World Central in Jebel Ali.

Meanwhile, the Duchess visited Al Jalila Children’s Hospital in Bur Dubai, and the Dubai Foundation for Women and Children in Al Aweer.

Afterwards, Prince Charles is set to travel to Sharjah, where he will meet His Highness Dr Shaikh Sultan Bin Mohammad Al Qasimi, Supreme Council Member and Ruler of Sharjah, and tour a heritage centre there.

The trip is part of a wider week-long tour of the Middle East — made at the request of the British government — which began on Saturday in Oman.

The royal couple’s visit is focused on religious tolerance, humanitarian work, women and youth empowerment, and conservation of wildlife and heritage.

The trip marks the eighth time that Prince Charles has visited the UAE since his first tour in 1989.

It is also second time for both Prince Charles and the Duchess, who last visited the UAE together in February 2007 as part of a 10-day tour of five Gulf countries.

Later, the royal couple will visit Bahrain as their final stop in the region.

On Sunday, the first day of their tour, Prince Charles — known for his fondness for traditional architecture — and Camilla visited Abu Dhabi’s Shaikh Zayed Grand Mosque, to attend a meeting on religious tolerance.

This was the second time the royal couple have toured the mosque which, with its capacity to hold 40,000 worshippers, is one of the world’s largest.

There, they were met by Shaikha Lubna Al Qasimi, Minister of State for Tolerance, and Paul Hinder, a bishop who heads one of Abu Dhabi’s two Catholic churches.

Then on Monday, Prince Charles visited Abu Dhabi’s Masdar City project. He also visited the tiny Bu Tinah island off the emirate’s coast.

The island, home to several rare animal species, is listed by Unesco as a protected marine area.

Meanwhile, Camilla toured the Abu Dhabi Falcon Hospital, and inaugurated a branch of the Imperial College Diabetes Centre.

Then in the evening, the royal couple attended a ceremony at a historic fort in Al Ain. The ceremony marked the upcoming UK-UAE Year of Culture, a cultural programme between the two countries that will begin next year.