diff --git a/cypress/integration/rendering/timeline.spec.ts b/cypress/integration/rendering/timeline.spec.ts
index 3785f5fcc..cb3ad1429 100644
--- a/cypress/integration/rendering/timeline.spec.ts
+++ b/cypress/integration/rendering/timeline.spec.ts
@@ -225,4 +225,18 @@ timeline
       {}
     );
   });
+  it('13: should render markdown htmlLabels', () => {
+    const timelineCode = `%%{init: { 'logLevel': 'debug', 'theme': 'forest' } }%%
+    timeline
+    title Timeline of Industrial Revolution
+    section 17th-20th century
+        Industry 1.0 : Machinery, Water power, Steam <br>power
+        Industry 2.0 : Electricity, <strong>Internal combustion engine </strong>, Mass production
+        Industry 3.0 : Electronics, Computers, Automation
+    section 21st century
+        Industry 4.0 : Internet, Robotics, Internet of Things
+        Industry 5.0 : Artificial intelligence, Big data, 3D printing
+      `;
+    imgSnapshotTest(timelineCode);
+  });
 });
diff --git a/packages/mermaid/src/diagrams/timeline/svgDraw.js b/packages/mermaid/src/diagrams/timeline/svgDraw.js
index 723dc46f1..ed1a7f400 100644
--- a/packages/mermaid/src/diagrams/timeline/svgDraw.js
+++ b/packages/mermaid/src/diagrams/timeline/svgDraw.js
@@ -1,6 +1,90 @@
 import { arc as d3arc, select } from 'd3';
+import { createText } from '../../rendering-util/createText.js';
+
 const MAX_SECTIONS = 12;
 
+/**
+ * Process HTML content in node descriptions
+ * @param {object} textElem - The SVG element to append text to
+ * @param {object} node - The node object containing description and dimensions
+ * @param {object} conf - Configuration object
+ * @param {boolean} isVirtual - Whether this is for virtual height calculation
+ */
+const processHtmlContent = async function (textElem, node, conf, isVirtual = false) {
+  // Create temporary text to get initial dimensions
+  const tempText = textElem
+    .append('text')
+    .text(node.descr.replace(/<[^>]*>/g, ''))
+    .attr('dy', '1em')
+    .attr('alignment-baseline', 'middle')
+    .attr('dominant-baseline', 'middle')
+    .attr('text-anchor', 'middle')
+    .call(wrap, node.width);
+
+  if (!isVirtual) {
+    tempText.attr('visibility', 'hidden');
+  }
+
+  const bbox = tempText.node().getBBox();
+  tempText.remove();
+
+  // Create the actual HTML content
+  const textObj = await createText(
+    textElem,
+    node.descr,
+    {
+      useHtmlLabels: true,
+      width: node.width,
+      classes: 'timeline-node-label',
+      isNode: true,
+    },
+    conf
+  );
+
+  if (!isVirtual) {
+    select(textObj).attr('transform', 'translate(0, 0)');
+  }
+
+  // Process the foreign object
+  const foreignObject = textElem.select('foreignObject');
+  if (foreignObject.node()) {
+    foreignObject.attr('width', `${10 * node.width}px`).attr('height', `${10 * node.width}px`);
+
+    const div = foreignObject.select('div');
+    if (div.node()) {
+      div
+        .style('display', 'table-cell')
+        .style('white-space', 'nowrap')
+        .style('line-height', '1.5')
+        .style('max-width', node.width + 'px')
+        .style('text-align', 'center');
+
+      let divBBox = div.node().getBoundingClientRect();
+
+      if (divBBox.width === node.width) {
+        div
+          .style('display', 'table')
+          .style('white-space', 'break-spaces')
+          .style('width', node.width + 'px');
+
+        divBBox = div.node().getBoundingClientRect();
+      }
+
+      foreignObject.attr('width', node.width).attr('height', divBBox.height);
+
+      if (!isVirtual) {
+        foreignObject.attr('x', -node.width / 2).attr('y', 3);
+
+        div.style('width', node.width + 'px');
+      } else {
+        bbox.height = divBBox.height;
+      }
+    }
+  }
+
+  return bbox;
+};
+
 export const drawRect = function (elem, rectData) {
   const rectElem = elem.append('rect');
   rectElem.attr('x', rectData.x);
@@ -409,6 +493,9 @@ const _drawTextCandidateFunc = (function () {
       .style('display', 'table-cell')
       .style('text-align', 'center')
       .style('vertical-align', 'middle')
+      .style('word-wrap', 'break-word')
+      .style('overflow-wrap', 'break-word')
+      .style('white-space', 'normal')
       .text(content);
 
     byTspan(content, body, x, y, width, height, textAttrs, conf);
@@ -493,7 +580,7 @@ function wrap(text, width) {
   });
 }
 
-export const drawNode = function (elem, node, fullSection, conf) {
+export const drawNode = async function (elem, node, fullSection, conf) {
   const section = (fullSection % MAX_SECTIONS) - 1;
   const nodeElem = elem.append('g');
   node.section = section;
@@ -506,19 +593,30 @@ export const drawNode = function (elem, node, fullSection, conf) {
   // Create the wrapped text element
   const textElem = nodeElem.append('g');
 
-  const txt = textElem
-    .append('text')
-    .text(node.descr)
-    .attr('dy', '1em')
-    .attr('alignment-baseline', 'middle')
-    .attr('dominant-baseline', 'middle')
-    .attr('text-anchor', 'middle')
-    .call(wrap, node.width);
-  const bbox = txt.node().getBBox();
-  const fontSize = conf.fontSize?.replace ? conf.fontSize.replace('px', '') : conf.fontSize;
-  node.height = bbox.height + fontSize * 1.1 * 0.5 + node.padding;
-  node.height = Math.max(node.height, node.maxHeight);
-  node.width = node.width + 2 * node.padding;
+  const hasHtml = /<[a-z][\S\s]*>/i.test(node.descr);
+
+  if (hasHtml) {
+    const bbox = await processHtmlContent(textElem, node, conf, false);
+
+    const fontSize = conf.fontSize?.replace ? conf.fontSize.replace('px', '') : conf.fontSize;
+    node.height = bbox.height + fontSize * 1.1 * 0.5 + node.padding;
+    node.height = Math.max(node.height, node.maxHeight);
+    node.width = node.width + 2 * node.padding;
+  } else {
+    const txt = textElem
+      .append('text')
+      .text(node.descr)
+      .attr('dy', '1em')
+      .attr('alignment-baseline', 'middle')
+      .attr('dominant-baseline', 'middle')
+      .attr('text-anchor', 'middle')
+      .call(wrap, node.width);
+    const bbox = txt.node().getBBox();
+    const fontSize = conf.fontSize?.replace ? conf.fontSize.replace('px', '') : conf.fontSize;
+    node.height = bbox.height + fontSize * 1.1 * 0.5 + node.padding;
+    node.height = Math.max(node.height, node.maxHeight);
+    node.width = node.width + 2 * node.padding;
+  }
 
   textElem.attr('transform', 'translate(' + node.width / 2 + ', ' + node.padding / 2 + ')');
 
@@ -528,17 +626,25 @@ export const drawNode = function (elem, node, fullSection, conf) {
   return node;
 };
 
-export const getVirtualNodeHeight = function (elem, node, conf) {
+export const getVirtualNodeHeight = async function (elem, node, conf) {
   const textElem = elem.append('g');
-  const txt = textElem
-    .append('text')
-    .text(node.descr)
-    .attr('dy', '1em')
-    .attr('alignment-baseline', 'middle')
-    .attr('dominant-baseline', 'middle')
-    .attr('text-anchor', 'middle')
-    .call(wrap, node.width);
-  const bbox = txt.node().getBBox();
+
+  const hasHtml = /<[a-z][\S\s]*>/i.test(node.descr);
+
+  let bbox;
+  if (hasHtml) {
+    bbox = await processHtmlContent(textElem, node, conf, true);
+  } else {
+    const txt = textElem
+      .append('text')
+      .text(node.descr)
+      .attr('dy', '1em')
+      .attr('alignment-baseline', 'middle')
+      .attr('dominant-baseline', 'middle')
+      .attr('text-anchor', 'middle')
+      .call(wrap, node.width);
+    bbox = txt.node().getBBox();
+  }
   const fontSize = conf.fontSize?.replace ? conf.fontSize.replace('px', '') : conf.fontSize;
   textElem.remove();
   return bbox.height + fontSize * 1.1 * 0.5 + node.padding;
diff --git a/packages/mermaid/src/diagrams/timeline/timelineRenderer.ts b/packages/mermaid/src/diagrams/timeline/timelineRenderer.ts
index 7f406b589..fec244395 100644
--- a/packages/mermaid/src/diagrams/timeline/timelineRenderer.ts
+++ b/packages/mermaid/src/diagrams/timeline/timelineRenderer.ts
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ interface TimelineTask {
   score: number;
   events: string[];
 }
-export const draw = function (text: string, id: string, version: string, diagObj: Diagram) {
+export const draw = async function (text: string, id: string, version: string, diagObj: Diagram) {
   //1. Fetch the configuration
   const conf = getConfig();
   // @ts-expect-error - wrong config?
@@ -77,7 +77,7 @@ export const draw = function (text: string, id: string, version: string, diagObj
   let hasSections = true;
 
   //Calculate the max height of the sections
-  sections.forEach(function (section: string) {
+  for (const section of sections) {
     const sectionNode: Block<string, number> = {
       number: sectionNumber,
       descr: section,
@@ -86,10 +86,10 @@ export const draw = function (text: string, id: string, version: string, diagObj
       padding: 20,
       maxHeight: maxSectionHeight,
     };
-    const sectionHeight = svgDraw.getVirtualNodeHeight(svg, sectionNode, conf);
+    const sectionHeight = await svgDraw.getVirtualNodeHeight(svg, sectionNode, conf);
     log.debug('sectionHeight before draw', sectionHeight);
     maxSectionHeight = Math.max(maxSectionHeight, sectionHeight + 20);
-  });
+  }
 
   //tasks length and maxEventCount
   let maxEventCount = 0;
@@ -107,7 +107,7 @@ export const draw = function (text: string, id: string, version: string, diagObj
       padding: 20,
       maxHeight: maxTaskHeight,
     };
-    const taskHeight = svgDraw.getVirtualNodeHeight(svg, taskNode, conf);
+    const taskHeight = await svgDraw.getVirtualNodeHeight(svg, taskNode, conf);
     log.debug('taskHeight before draw', taskHeight);
     maxTaskHeight = Math.max(maxTaskHeight, taskHeight + 20);
 
@@ -124,11 +124,7 @@ export const draw = function (text: string, id: string, version: string, diagObj
         padding: 20,
         maxHeight: 50,
       };
-      maxEventLineLengthTemp += svgDraw.getVirtualNodeHeight(svg, eventNode, conf);
-    }
-    // Add spacing between events (10px per event except the last one)
-    if (task.events.length > 0) {
-      maxEventLineLengthTemp += (task.events.length - 1) * 10;
+      maxEventLineLengthTemp += await svgDraw.getVirtualNodeHeight(svg, eventNode, conf);
     }
     maxEventLineLength = Math.max(maxEventLineLength, maxEventLineLengthTemp);
   }
@@ -137,7 +133,7 @@ export const draw = function (text: string, id: string, version: string, diagObj
   log.debug('maxTaskHeight before draw', maxTaskHeight);
 
   if (sections && sections.length > 0) {
-    sections.forEach((section) => {
+    for (const section of sections) {
       //filter task where tasks.section == section
       const tasksForSection = tasks.filter((task) => task.section === section);
 
@@ -151,7 +147,7 @@ export const draw = function (text: string, id: string, version: string, diagObj
       };
       log.debug('sectionNode', sectionNode);
       const sectionNodeWrapper = svg.append('g');
-      const node = svgDraw.drawNode(sectionNodeWrapper, sectionNode, sectionNumber, conf);
+      const node = await svgDraw.drawNode(sectionNodeWrapper, sectionNode, sectionNumber, conf);
       log.debug('sectionNode output', node);
 
       sectionNodeWrapper.attr('transform', `translate(${masterX}, ${sectionBeginY})`);
@@ -160,7 +156,7 @@ export const draw = function (text: string, id: string, version: string, diagObj
 
       //draw tasks for this section
       if (tasksForSection.length > 0) {
-        drawTasks(
+        await drawTasks(
           svg,
           tasksForSection,
           sectionNumber,
@@ -179,11 +175,11 @@ export const draw = function (text: string, id: string, version: string, diagObj
 
       masterY = sectionBeginY;
       sectionNumber++;
-    });
+    }
   } else {
     //draw tasks
     hasSections = false;
-    drawTasks(
+    await drawTasks(
       svg,
       tasks,
       sectionNumber,
@@ -237,7 +233,7 @@ export const draw = function (text: string, id: string, version: string, diagObj
   // addSVGAccessibilityFields(diagObj.db, diagram, id);
 };
 
-export const drawTasks = function (
+export const drawTasks = async function (
   diagram: Selection<SVGElement, unknown, null, undefined>,
   tasks: TimelineTask[],
   sectionColor: number,
@@ -266,7 +262,7 @@ export const drawTasks = function (
     // create task wrapper
 
     const taskWrapper = diagram.append('g').attr('class', 'taskWrapper');
-    const node = svgDraw.drawNode(taskWrapper, taskNode, sectionColor, conf);
+    const node = await svgDraw.drawNode(taskWrapper, taskNode, sectionColor, conf);
     const taskHeight = node.height;
     //log task height
     log.debug('taskHeight after draw', taskHeight);
@@ -283,15 +279,22 @@ export const drawTasks = function (
       //add margin to task
       masterY += 100;
       lineLength =
-        lineLength + drawEvents(diagram, task.events, sectionColor, masterX, masterY, conf);
+        lineLength + (await drawEvents(diagram, task.events, sectionColor, masterX, masterY, conf));
       masterY -= 100;
 
       lineWrapper
         .append('line')
         .attr('x1', masterX + 190 / 2)
-        .attr('y1', masterY + maxTaskHeight) // Start from bottom of task box
-        .attr('x2', masterX + 190 / 2) // Same x coordinate for vertical line
-        .attr('y2', masterY + maxTaskHeight + 100 + maxEventLineLength + 100) // End at consistent depth with ample padding for visible dashed lines and arrowheads
+        .attr('y1', masterY + maxTaskHeight) // One section head + one task + margins
+        .attr('x2', masterX + 190 / 2) // Subtract stroke width so arrow point is retained
+        .attr(
+          'y2',
+          masterY +
+            maxTaskHeight +
+            (isWithoutSections ? maxTaskHeight : maxSectionHeight) +
+            maxEventLineLength +
+            120
+        )
         .attr('stroke-width', 2)
         .attr('stroke', 'black')
         .attr('marker-end', 'url(#arrowhead)')
@@ -308,7 +311,7 @@ export const drawTasks = function (
   masterY = masterY - 10;
 };
 
-export const drawEvents = function (
+export const drawEvents = async function (
   diagram: Selection<SVGElement, unknown, null, undefined>,
   events: string[],
   sectionColor: number,
@@ -335,7 +338,7 @@ export const drawEvents = function (
     log.debug('eventNode', eventNode);
     // create event wrapper
     const eventWrapper = diagram.append('g').attr('class', 'eventWrapper');
-    const node = svgDraw.drawNode(eventWrapper, eventNode, sectionColor, conf);
+    const node = await svgDraw.drawNode(eventWrapper, eventNode, sectionColor, conf);
     const eventHeight = node.height;
     maxEventHeight = maxEventHeight + eventHeight;
     eventWrapper.attr('transform', `translate(${masterX}, ${masterY})`);