Princess Diana protected her nieces from getting hounded by the media

Princess Diana and her daily struggle with warding off paparazzi was no news for the world.

However, while the late royal herself was hounded by reporters left, right and center, she made sure no one she loved had to go through the same amount of scrutiny.

This was revealed her nieces, Lady Amelia and Lady Eliza Spencer who were only five years old back then and are now looking back at their late aunt’s protective side.

Now 28, Eliza spoke to Tatler about accompanying the Princess of Wales to the Noordhoek Beach in Cape Town, South Africa where they were approached by a photographer.

"Obviously it could have been quite terrifying for us, being so young and not understanding what was happening. But she turned it into a game of who could get back to the car first,” said Eliza.

"It was amazing how she protected us in a way that made us feel safe and not frightened. We had no idea what she was doing at the time,” she went on to say.

"Growing up in South Africa, I really had very little idea of how significant she was in the world until I was much older,” she said.

"As a child, I realised the enormity of the loss for my father and family. It was only later that I came to understand the significance of the loss of her as a figure in the world,” she went on to say.

"She always made an effort to connect with us as children and had a talent for reading children's hearts,” she added.

She went on to speak about Diana’s efforts to de-stigmatize mental health issues as she and her family were quite open to discussing the matter.

"It was never something that we felt afraid to talk about when we had our own struggle,” said Eliza.

Amelia joined the discourse and said: “We have come a long way in terms of the conversations, and I hope there will come a time when the stigma is completely removed and that people will be able to ask for help and not feel judged for having mental health issues or struggling emotionally."

Eliza and Amelia are the daughters of Diana’s younger brother, Earl Charles Spencer.