1961, July = Diana is born on July 1 at Park House, Sandringham, on the Queen's estate. She is the third daughter of Viscount Althorp and Diana Frances Roche. Her mother is the daughter of Ruth, Lady Fermoy, one of the Queen Mother's Women of the Bedchamber for over 30 years. 

1967 = The Althorps' 14-year marriage collapses. Diana's mother, Frances, is refused custody of Diana and Charles.

1969 = Diana's mother marries Peter Shand Kydd. 

1970, Sept. = Diana is sent to Riddlesworth Hall Prep School near Diss in Norfolk.

1972, Sept. = She enters West Heath, her mother's old school, near Sevenoaks in Kent.

1975. = Her father, Lord Althorp, becomes the eighth Earl Spencer; Diana becomes Lady Diana Spencer.

1977, June = Diana leaves school, aged 16, after having failed her O levels for the second time.

1977, July = Earl Spencer marries Raine Cartland, the former wife of the Earl of Dartmouth and daughter of Dame Barbara Cartland. The children give their stepmother the nickname 'Acid Raine'.

1977, Nov. = Diana's first grown-up encounter with Prince Charles takes place on the Althorp estate during a shoot. She is 16. Her sister, Sarah, is the current royal flame. 

1978 = Diana briefly attends the Institut Alpin Videmanette near Gstaad, a Swiss finishing school, then begins her first job as assistant at the Young England nursery in Pimlico. She had previously worked as a nanny and cleaner for friends. 

1978, Nov. = Diana and her sister Sarah are invited to Prince Charles's 30th birthday party.

1979, July = As a coming-of-age present, Diana is given a £50,000 flat in Colherne Court, Chelsea, which she shares with her girlfriends Carolyn Bartholomew, Virginia Pitman and Anne Bolton.

1980, Feb. = Diana is invited to a shooting weekend at Sandringham. At the time, Prince Charles's name is romantically linked to Lady Amanda Knatchbull, Lord Mountbatten's granddaughter, and Anna 'Whiplash' Wallace.

1980, July = Charles and Diana meet again during a house party at Petworth, the home of Commander Robert de Pass. He invites her to Balmoral. Their romance begins.

1981, Feb. = On February 6, Charles proposes marriage. Their engagement is publicly announced on Febuary 24. The couple are interviewed on television and asked if they are in love. While Diana unequivocally says, "Of course", Charles replies, "Whatever love is".

1981, July = Diana marries Prince Charles on July 29 at St Paul's Cathedral. Millions tune in to the televised ceremony. The couple spend their honeymoon on the royal yacht, Britannia.

1982, Jan. = According to Andrew Morton in his book Diana: Her True Story, the Princess is four months pregnant when she throws herself down a staircase at Sandringham in a suicide attempt. 

1982, June = Prince William is born on June 21.

1982, July = Diana is reported to be suffering from post-natal depression.

1983, Jan. = The first reports appear that the marriage is under strain. Rumours are dismissed that the Princess is suffering from anorexia nervosa. She tours in Australia, New Zealand and Canada.

1984, Sept. = Prince Harry is born on Sept 15. Diana confides to friends that her marriage is in trouble. 

1985, Sept. = Friends of Charles say he is increasingly "lonely and eccentric".

1986 = Diana meets Dodi Fayed, a film producer and the millionaire son of tycoon Mohamed al Fayed, during a polo match at the Guard's Club in Windsor. Prince Charles and Dodi are both playing. 

1987, Oct. = The Royal couple spend a month apart.

1988, Sept. = Diana confronts Camilla Parker Bowles about her affair with Charles. 

1989, July = The Princess spends an evening without her bodyguard, but with Old Etonian James Gilbey. They play bridge at his London flat. 

1992, Mar = On March 29, Diana's father dies. In the subsequent weeks, speculation about her marriage intensifies. 

1992, June = Andrew Morton's book, Diana: Her True Story, is published. It reveals that Diana has suffered from depression, bulimia and has attempted suicide.

1992, July = Diana poses alone for a photograph in front of the Taj Mahal during a state visit to India. 

1992, Aug. = The Sun prints transcripts of tapes which record conversations between Diana and a man who calls her "Squidgy". 

1992, Nov. = During a four-day visit to Korea, the Prince and Princess are dubbed 'The Glums' by the press.

1992, Dec. = John Major announces the separation of Charles and Diana to Parliament on December 9. There are no plans for a divorce. 

1993, Jan. = The Sun publishes tapes of conversations between Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles, allegedly recorded in December 1989.

1993, Dec. = Diana announces she is withdrawing from public life. 

1994, June = Prince Charles admits infidelity during a television interview with Jonathan Dimbleby. In Dimbleby's print biography, Charles concedes he was bullied into the marriage by his father.

1994, Aug. = Newspaper reports claim that Diana has harassed her friend Oliver Hoare by telephone. She denies it. 

1994, Oct. = Anna Pasternak's book, Princess in Love, is published.

1995, Mar = Camilla Parker Bowles and her husband Andrew divorce. 

1995, Aug. = Reports suggest a romantic link between Diana and Will Carling. 

1995, Sept. = Carling and his wife Julia separate on September 29. Charles appears at a party with Camilla. 

1995, Nov. = The Panorama interview is broadcast on November 20, attracting 15 million viewers. Diana admits that the Squidgygate tapes were genuine and that she had made phone calls to Oliver Hoare, a married friend.

1995, Nov. = Buckingham Palace confirms that Diana will spend Christmas with the Royal Family at Sandringham.

1995, Dec. = Charles announces he has no intention of remarrying. The Queen writes to both the Prince and Princess telling them to seek a divorce, and Charles immediately agrees. The Palace announces that Diana has made private arrangements for Christmas, and Prince William and Harry join their father. 

1996, Feb. = Diana agrees to a divorce and negotiations start between lawyers. 

1996, May = Diana threatens to withdraw from divorce talks due to Charles's alleged unwillingness to agree to her demands. 

1996, June = Diana visits Chicago to raise money for cancer research. Tickets for 'Dinner with Di' trade hands at $50,000 each. It is her first engagement as the self-styled 'Queen of Hearts'. 

1996, July = Terms for divorce are announced on July 12: a £15m settlement, the stripping of Diana's HRH title, equal care of the Princes.

1996, Aug. = The divorce is finalized on August 28.

1997, Jan. = Diana visits Angola as a guest of the Red Cross to raise awareness for landmine victims. It creates a political storm in Britain.

1997, June = Diana's dresses raise £3.5m for charity at a New York auction. 

1997, July = Diana and her two sons holiday aboard Mohamed al Fayed's yacht off the coast of St Tropez and Sardinia. His son Dodi joins them.

1997, Aug. = Diana travels to Bosnia to visit the victims of landmines. Later in the month, she holidays in the Mediterranean with Dodi Fayed, causing frenzied speculation about marriage in the world's press. On August 30, the couple arrive in Paris and dine at the Fayed-owned Ritz Hotel. In the early hours of August 31, they drive back to Dodi's flat in an official Ritz car, which crashes in an underpass. Diana, Dodi and the driver, Henri Paul, are killed.