The Story Behind Princess Diana's Philadelphia Eagles Jacket (It Involves an American Royal!)

David Hartley/Shutterstock Princess Diana

Princess Diana was a Philadelphia Eagles fan — or at least of the team's merchandise!

Before the Philadelphia Eagles and Kansas City Chiefs faced off in the 2023 Super Bowl, photos of the late Princess of Wales sporting an Eagles jacket resurfaced online. Diana, who died in a 1997 Paris car crash, wore the varsity-style jacket on several occasions, including during school runs for her sons, Prince William and Prince Harry.

Princess Diana received the jacket from late Eagles statistician Jack Edelstein, who she met at the funeral of Princess Grace of Monaco in 1982. Before marrying Prince Rainier in 1956, she was American actress and Oscar winner Grace Kelly, who was a native o Philadelphia.

"She thought football was like soccer," Edelstein told the Philadelphia Daily News after Princess Diana's death. "She asked, 'What are your colors?' I said, 'Green and silver.' She said, 'Those are my favorite colors.' "

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Jayne Fincher/Princess Diana Archive/Getty Princess Diana

After their meeting, Edelstein promised to send Diana some Eagles gear — and came through with a package that included hats, shorts, shirts and the jacket.

"We also sent her a beautiful Eagles jacket, made for her. It was Leonard Tose's idea. He never went second-class," Edelstein said of the team owner at the time. "She sent me a very nice note, how she'd been wearing them around."

Michael Fresco/Evening Standard/Shutterstock Princess Diana

When a photo of Princess Diana wearing the jacket made the cover of a 1994 issue of PEOPLE, new team owner Jeffrey Lurie had the magazine cover enlarged so he could hang it in his office at Veterans Stadium.

However, Princess Diana likely wore the jacket as a style statement rather than to support the team.

"She wears these things because they create a look," her biographer Andrew Morton told Daily News writer Barbara Beck in 1991. "She knows very little about English sports, let alone American teams."

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The Philadelphia Eagles jacket wasn't the only American inspiration for Princess Diana's clothing. The royal was known for wearing sweatshirts featuring the names of well-known schools like Harvard University and Northwestern University — the very college her future daughter-in-law Meghan Markle attended from 1999 to 2003.