Man in the News: Sheikh Mansour

Abu Dhabi’s royals rarely have to endure ridicule in the media. But back in January, Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan suffered the indignity of having his picture splashed on the front page of The Sun, the British tabloid, alongside a typically unforgiving headline: “Sheikh in the Kaka”.

The accompanying story juxtaposed the millions in paper losses that Sheikh Mansour had sustained on his $3.5bn (€2.5bn, £2.2bn) investment in Barclays as the bank’s shares crashed with the ill-fated attempt by Manchester City – his recently acquired English football club – to lure Kaka, the Brazilian star, away from AC Milan.

The headline would have made many in image-conscious Abu Dhabi squirm. Sheikh Mansour is a brother of Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Abu Dhabi’s ruler and president of the United Arab Emirates, where criticism of ruling family members is taboo. It would also have lit up the faces of the sceptics who have questioned the sheikh’s investment acumen.