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Last Updated: Friday, 8 December 2006, 17:36 GMT

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Timeline: Diana, Princess of Wales

24 February, 1981

Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer or Shy Di as the press call her announce they are to marry. She is 19 he is 32.
Diana who was then a kindergarten teacher had already found great public appeal fed by intense press interest. When journalists asked them during the official engagement photo call whether they were in love both answered "yes" with the Prince adding "whatever love means". Charles it emerged later had confided to a friend that he did not yet love Diana but was sure he could.

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29 July, 1981

Charles and Diana marry in a fairytale wedding at St Pauls Cathedral.
Crowds of 600000 people filled the streets of London to catch a glimpse of the couple on their wedding day. A further estimated 750 million across the world watched on television the largest TV audience ever at that time. Diana was dressed in in an ivory taffeta and antique lace gown with a seven metre train.

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21 June, 1982

Diana gives birth to a boy who is named William Arthur Philip Louis Windsor. He is second in line to the throne.

15 September, 1984

Prince Harry is born.

April, 1987

Diana opens the UKs first specialist Aids ward and shakes the hand of a man suffering from the disease.
Diana's gesture made a huge difference in attitude at a time when many people in Britain were still ignorant about HIV and how it was transmitted. She said "HIV does not make people dangerous to know so you can shake their hand and give them a hug." It was the first hint that Diana had found a public role she would be happy with that of charity campaigner.

October, 1987

Newspapers calculate that Charles and Diana have spent 35 days in a row apart.

11 February, 1992

During a trip to India with Charles Diana is pictured alone at the Taj Mahal the image is seen to symbolise a failing marriage.

16 June, 1992

A controversial book Diana Her True Story is published. It alleges she is deeply unhappy and had attempted suicide.

25 August, 1992

The Sun prints a transcript of a phone call from 1989 between Diana and a man who calls her Squidgy James Hewitt.

9 December, 1992

Prime Minister John Major announces to Parliament that Charles and Diana are separating but have no plans to divorce.

17 January, 1993

Two tabloids publish a transcript of a 1989 telephone conversation between Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles.

3 December, 1993

Diana withdraws from public life.

29 June, 1994

In a TV interview Prince Charles admits being unfaithful but only after the marriage had become irretrievably broken down.
Prince Charles did not name the woman with whom he had been unfaithful although all rumours centred on his old flame Camilla ParkerBowles. As Jonathan Dimbleby pressed his question and asked whether he'd tried to be faithful to his wife Charles eventually said "Yes until it became irretrievably broken down us both having tried."

November, 1994

Authorised biography of Charles confirms his affair with Camilla Parker Bowles.

20 November, 1995

Diana gives TV interview in which she admits to having had an affair but says there were three of us in this marriage.
Interviewed by Martin Bashir on the BBC's Panorama Diana talked openly about the strains of her life within the royal family her postnatal depression bulimia and Charles's continued love for his former girlfriend Camilla Parker Bowles.

20 December, 1995

The Queen urges Charles and Diana to seek an early divorce.

28 August, 1996

Prince Charles and Princess Diana officially divorce.

15 January, 1997

Princess Diana angers government ministers by calling for an international ban on landmines.

31 August, 1997

Diana is killed in a car crash in Paris along with her boyfriend Dodi Al Fayed and driver Henri Paul.
The accident happened after the princess left the Ritz Hotel with Dodi Fayed son of Harrods owner Mohammed Al Fayed. The Mercedes they were in was being pursued by paparazzi on motorbikes. It went into the tunnel under the Place de L'Alma at high speed and then crashed into a pillar. Dodi Al Fayed's bodyguard Trevor ReesJones was the only survivor.

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1 September, 1997

Initial French investigation determines that the driver Henri Paul was over the drink drive limit.

2 September, 1997

The nation goes into mourning and a million bouquets are laid at the gates of Dianas London home Kensington Palace.

4 September, 1997

Amid mounting public criticism for appearing unemotional the royal family issues a public statement.
The royal family were in Balomoral at the time of the death and were criticised for not reacting in public soon enough especially for not lowering the flag on Buckingham Palace. Mood began to build that they should be doing more to show they shared the nation's grief. The palace issued a statement saying Princes William and Harry were enormously grateful for the public's support and needed to be with their father at this time.

5 September, 1997

The Queen gives a live broadcast to the nation in which she says Diana was an exceptional and gifted human being.

6 September, 1997

At Dianas funeral thousands line the streets and her sons follow behind the coffin. She is later buried at Althorp.
The funeral was the culmination of a week of national mourning. Thousands of people thronged central London lining the route to Westminster Abbey. During the service Diana's brother Earl Spencer gave a charged eulogy in which he pledged to look after William and Harry and lashed out at the media. Elton John performed a special version of Candle in the Wind.

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19 September, 1997

Bodyguard Trevor ReesJones who survived the crash says he is unable to remember the circumstances.

12 February, 1998

Harrods owner Mohammed Al Fayed tells the Mirror newspaper the crash that killed his son and Diana was no accident.

2 July, 1999

Paris appeal court throws out a petition by Mohamed alFayed contending that Dianas death was the work of British intelligence.

1 November, 2002

Trial of Dianas butler Paul Burrell collapses after it emerges he had told the Queen he was looking after some of her possessions.
Mr Burrell was found not guilty of three charges of stealing from the estate of Diana Princess of Wales Prince Charles and Prince William. The trial collapsed when it emerged that the Queen had known he had taken some of Diana's possessions for safekeeping. The prosecution said there was no longer a realistic prospect of conviction and no further evidence against Mr Burrell would be produced.

28 November, 2003

French court finds three paparazzi photographers not guilty of invading Dianas privacy the night she died.

6 January, 2004

British inquiry into the deaths of Diana and Dodi begins after continuing speculation about the car crash.
Coroner Michael Burgess said Sir John Stevens now Lord Stevens the Metropolitan Police Commissioner would examine rumours surrounding the 1997 Paris crash. The announcement was made as separate inquests into the couple's deaths were opened and adjourned until 2005.

6 July, 2004

The Queen unveils memorial fountain costing £3.6m in Hyde Park.
The ceremony brought together the Windsor and Spencer families in public for the first time since Diana's funeral. But within two weeks it was closed off after three members of the public slipped and injured themselves whilst paddling. New safety guidelines were drawn up controlling the numbers of visitors to the site. It reopened in May 2005.

3 February, 2006

After a retrial French court convicts three photographers of breaking privacy laws for taking photos of the Paris crash victims.

31 May, 2006

New evidence uncovered in investigation into Dianas death Lord Stevens reveals.
The former Metropolitan Police chief leading the inquiry into the death of Princess Diana and Dodi Al Fayed let slip during an interview at the Hay Festival in HayonWye that new evidence and witnesses had emerged. When asked by festival director Peter Florence whether the new witnesses were eyewitnesses he said "I can't tell you at this stage... you've already got under my radar."

13 July, 2006

Italian magazine Chi publishes photos of Diana in her last moments after the accident.

22 July, 2006

Royal coroner announces he is withdrawing from the inquest into her death.
Michael Burgess the coroner of the Queen's household asked for the inquests to handled by a "senior judicial figure" blaming his decision on "a heavy and constant workload". Two months later it was announced retired judge Dame Elizabeth ButlerSloss would hear the inquests.

7 September, 2006

Dame Elizabeth ButlerSloss appointed to conduct hearings in the inquests into the death of Diana.

7 December, 2006

Coroner decides to hold preliminary hearing in public because of widespread interest.
The original plan had been to hold the hearing in private. Mohamed Al Fayed who had mounted a legal challenge to the decision to hold the hearing behind closed doors welcomed the move. He said "I will not tolerate further attempts to ... conceal the truth."