Princess Diana 25 years on: I was orphaned at 16 - Diana showed she cared

Julian Armstrong was at the cenotaph in Enniskillen, between his parents Wesley and Bertha Armstrong, when the bomb went off.

“It is not an experience you would want anyone to have – having to dig your own parents out of rubble,” he said.

He was devastated by his loss and still in shock the next week when they got a phone call about 9am asking him to be at St Angelo’s Airport an hour later to meet a mystery guest.

“We didn’t know who it was. There were many of the relatives there. It was all a blur to me because I was still in shock.”

However, it soon emerged it was Princess Diana and Prince Charles.

“She shook hands with everybody and I remember her saying that she felt she wanted to come, her and Charles, to pass on their sympathies. It was nice of her and Charles to visit at the time, they didn’t have to, but they did.”

His sister Stella, then 32, said her family was “just devastated”.

“At the time I just thought it was very nice of her and Prince Charles to come. I just thought she was very beautiful and really nice. I remember now that she was wearing a grey suit with a black shawl over it.

“She seemed to be genuinely sympathetic, you felt that she had sensitivity and feeling for you when she shook hands with you. She looked you in the eye as she shook your hand. It is so long ago but I think she said something like, ‘this is awful for you’.

“At the time it felt helpful to us. We were honoured that she took the time and made the effort to come and that she felt it was important to meet the families. It must have been a decision made quite quickly because we were only notified that morning.”

Her family will always carry the pain of how they lost their parents, she said.

“It probably helped that somebody like Diana wanted to meet you although you were still really in shock.”

She remembers hearing the news of Diana’s death while she was staying with a friend. “I couldn’t believe it. We couldn’t take our eyes off the TV for hours.”

Now 25 years later she reflects on the impact Diana had on her.

“We were moved that she wanted to meet us and it was probably an honour. My mother would have been a great person for the royal family.

“She even had a scrapbook for them. I would say she would have been honoured to think that Diana took time to meet us after her death. It made us feel a wee bit special.”