Goodbye to all that ... and Hello! to divorce

23 July 1986: Prince Andrew and Sarah "Fergie" Ferguson marry at Westminster Abbey.

August 1988: First daughter Beatrice is born. The Duchess is much criticised after flying out to Australia to visit the Duke, leaving her daughter behind.

23 March 1990: Second daughter, Eugenie, is born.

May 1990: Texan oilman Steve Wyatt flies the Duchess and Beatrice in his private jet to Morocco for a holiday.

October 1990: The couple move into their new, and much criticised, pounds 5m home at Sunninghill Park, Windsor.

November 1991: Cleaner Maurice Maple finds photographs of the Duchess of York and Princess Beatrice on holiday at Steve Wyatt's flat in Cadogan Square, London.

March 1992: Buckingham Palace announces that the Yorks are discussing a separation.

August 1992: A paparazzi takes sneak pictures of the Duchess with John Bryan, a "financial adviser" kissing her instep as she sunbathes topless at a villa in St Tropez, in the south of France.

March 1993: Duchess tells Harpers and Queen magazine: "I want out of the whole thing so I can get on with my life and stop being blamed for everything ... I have been the scapegoat of the Waleses for the past four years."

July 1993: Duchess's hopes of becoming a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations are dashed.

October 1993: Duchess turns down her invitation to Lord Linley's wedding as insiders claim that she no longer feels part of the Royal Family.

9 December 1994: Divorce first raised by the Duchess at a charity Christmas party for motor neuron disease sufferers.

January 1996: Years of profligate spending leave her with debts estimated at around pounds 3m. The Queen refuses to bail her out after previously giving generous financial help from the royal coffers.

January 1996: Duchess is banned from using the Queen's palace mail service free of charge and is also grounded from using Royal Squadron flights.

March 1996: Ghostlike photographs of a heavily made-up Duchess appear plastered all over Hello! magazine.

April 1996: Austrian tennis star Thomas Muster denies that he is having an affair with the Duchess and says he hopes she will patch things up with her estranged husband.

16 April 1996: Divorce between Duke and Duchess of York is announced.