Princess Diana Timeline
July 1, 1961- Diana Frances Spencer is born to Frances and Edward John (Johnnie) Spencer.
Summer 1967: Parents separate and a court battle over the children follows.
Dec. 1967: Father wins custody over Diana and her younger brother Charles and enrolls Diana in Silfield Day School.
Sept. 1970: Sent to Riddlesworth Hall in Norfolk, her first boarding school where she excels in diving, swimming and ballet. She doesn't do as well in academics.
July 1977: Graduates from West Heath secondary school in Kent.
July 14, 1977: Her dad, now known as Earl Spencer, marries the Countess of Dartmouth, Raine. Diana and her younger brother dub their stepmother "Acid Raine."
Nov. 1977: Prince Charles notices Diana at a party in the Spencer estate in Northamptonshire.
July 1980: She begins dating Prince Charles during a polo playing weekend.
Feb. 24, 1981: Her engagement with Prince Charles is announced. Reporters ask Diana if she is in love. She replies, "Of course," When they ask Prince Charles the same question, he replies, "Whatever 'in love' means."
July 29, 1981: She weds Prince Charles in St. Paul's Cathedral. 600,000 people line London streets to cheer the couple on.
June 21, 1982: After seventeen hours of labor, she gives birth to their first child, Prince William Arthur Philip Louis Windsor.
Mar. 1983: She and Charles tour Australia and New Zealand for six weeks.
June 14, 1983: They commence an eighteen day trip to parts of Canada, starting from the Atlantic region, then to Ottawa, and lastly Edmonton.
Sept. 15, 1984: Gives birth to her second child, Prince Henry Charles Albert David.
Apr. 30, 1986: Visits British Columbia, Canada for the opening of Expo 86 in Vancouver.
Late 1986: She begins an affair with Capt. James Hewitt.
1989: During this time, perhaps earlier, Prince Charles is having an affair with Camilla Parker-Bowles.
June 3, 1991: Her son Prince William is involved in a golf accident where he is accidentally hit by a golf club on the side of head and suffers a skull fracture. Diana stays by his side in the hospital while Charles attends to a royal engagement.
Sometime in 1991: She ends her affair with Capt. James Hewitt.
July 1991: Helps dispel the myth that AIDS victims can give you the disease just by touch as she hugs AIDS patient at an English hospital.
Oct. 23, 1991: Visits Ontario, Canada with Charles and sons for six days. This will be their final trip to Canada together.
Mar. 29, 1992: Her dad dies of a heart attack.
June 1992: Andrew Morton has his biography Diana, Her True Story publised. It covers her bout with bulimia, depression, and her unhappy marriage. She approves of the publication.
Aug. 1992: Reports of Diana's phone conversation with James Gilbey surface. He supposedly calls her "Squidgy" and professes his love for her.
Dec. 9, 1992: Buckingham Palace announces the separation of Diana and Charles.
May, 1994: She and a Finnish student save a man from drowning in a pond located in London's Regent's Park.
Aug. 28, 1996: She and Charles officially divorce. She receives a thirty million dollar settlement. She keeps her title as "Princess" but cannot be called "Your Royal Highness."
Jan. 1997: Launches her campaign against land mines in Angola.
July 1997: Pictures are taken of her and new boyfriend, Dodi Al Fayed, on his dad's yacht on the Riviera.
Aug. 1997: Continues her campaign on land mines by going to Bosnia.
Aug. 31, 1997: Diana, Al Fayed, and their driver Henri Paul try to escape the paparazzi by speeding in a Paris tunnel. They crash and die.
Sept. 4, 1997: The Queen orders the Union Jack to fly half mast at Buckingham Palace.
Sept. 6, 1997: Mourners line the streets of London as Diana's body leaves Westminster Abbey and passes them for her final resting place on an island on the Althorp estate for burial.