1960s

Then a leader of Rhodesian fighters, Robert Mugabe attends a meeting in Dar es Salaam in Tanzania, with the secretary for information of the African National Congress, Georges Silundika, and the leader of the Zimbabwe African People’s Union party, Joshua Nkomo
Photograph: Keystone-France/Gamma-Keystone via Getty Images

1976

Robert Mugabe, leader of Patriotic Front, a coalition of the Zimbabwe African People’s Union and the Zimbabwe African National Union, at a press conference in Geneva. Then a Marxist freedom fighter, Mugabe was living in exile and seen as a revolutionary hero fighting a guerrilla war against the Rhodesian prime minister, Ian Smith, and white minority rule
Photograph: AFP/Getty Images

1979

British-brokered all-party talks at Lancaster House in London lead to a peace agreement and new constitution guaranteeing minority rights
Photograph: ANL/Rex/Shutterstock

1980

Robert Mugabe giving a clenched fist salute to a crowd of supporters in Salisbury after returning to Rhodesia from exile to fight the general election
Photograph: Picture Library

1980

Robert Mugabe and Lord Soames in Rhodesia, which gains independence on 18 April after 90 years as a British colony, taking the new name Zimbabwe.Mugabe, head of the Zimbabwe African National Union, takes the reins as prime minister. Joshua Nkomo, head of the Zimbabwe African People’s Union, Mugabe’s partner in the armed struggle, becomes interior minister
Photograph: Herbie Knott/Rex/Shutterstock

1980

Jimmy Carter, the US president, meets Robert Mugabe on 27 August in Washington
Photograph: Historical/Corbis via Getty Images

1982

The British prime minister, Margaret Thatcher, greets Robert Mugabe on the steps of No 10 Downing Street as he arrives for talks
Photograph: Popperfoto/Getty Images

1986

Mugabe shares a joke with Fidel Castro, the Cuban president, as he arrives in Harare for the 8th non-aligned summit on 31 August
Photograph: Dominique Faget/AFP/Getty Images

1988

President Mugabe with Margaret Thatcher at Chequers in October. The African leader stopped off for brief talks on his way back from the UN general assembly in New York
Photograph: ANL/Rex/Shutterstock

1993

Diana, Princess of Wales, meets President Mugabe during a royal visit in July
Photograph: David Hartley/Rex/Shutterstock

1996

Grace Mugabe waves at guests on 17 August after her wedding ceremony at the Kutama Catholic mission 42 miles west of Harare
Photograph: Joao Silva/AP

2008

Election posters of President Robert Mugabe are covered in opposition MDC slogans in Harare, Zimbabwe. The opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, appeared at a press conference where he claimed victory in the presidential election and said a second round run-off vote was unnecessary
Photograph: EPA

2016

Mugabe marks his 92nd birthday with a lavish party with Grace in Masvingo on 21 February despite a drought
Photograph: Aaron Ufumeli/EPA

2017

Robert Mugabe greets his generals in Harare at State House on 19 November. Members of the Zanu-PF central committee fired Mugabe as chief and replaced him with the dismissed vice-president, Emmerson Mnangagwa on Sunday
Photograph: AP