Was Princess Diana a Philadelphia Eagles Fan?
"Hearst Magazines and Yahoo may earn commission or revenue on some items through these links."
Was Princess Diana an Eagles fan? The Princess of Wales wore a Philadelphia Eagles varsity jacket in the '90s—but it probably wasn't due to any love of the sport, or the City of Brotherly Love.
In 1982, Diana represented the British royal family at the funeral for Grace Kelly, the Princess of Monaco. The guest list for the event included a number of Philly natives—Kelly had been born and raised in Philadelphia—and one such attendee was Eagles statistician Jack Edelstein.
At the reception, Edelstein started chatting with the then-Princess of Wales. "She thought football was like soccer," he told the Philadelphia Daily News. "She asked, 'What are your colors?' I said, 'Green and silver.' She said, 'Those are my favorite colors.'" Edelstein then promised to send her some Eagles swag—and when he got home, the team sent the British royal workout shorts, t-shirts, and baseball caps with the Eagles logo.
Also in the package? A varsity jacket. "We also sent her a beautiful Eagles jacket, made for her. It was Leonard Tose's idea. He never went second-class," Edelstein recounted (at the time, Tose owned the team). Then, Princess Diana "sent me a very nice note, how she'd been wearing them around."
"Leonard loved the big gesture and he loved spending money," Ray Didinger, who covered the Eagles for 52 years, said. "It’s not like they took something off the rack."
On a special edition of Sunday NFL Countdown on ESPN that aired in October 2023, her former bodyguard Ken Wharfe shared the story behind the jacket. "Diana always craved the normalcy. By being a member of the royal family, that was almost impossible. Neither William or Harry, when they were kids, wanted their mother to sort of dress in her finery, take them to school. So all Diana would do is be as casual as possible," Wharfe said.
He added, "Diana loved to be different, this was her style. It sort of showed the public and her children that she was a normal mother in a style that people liked."
When Diana was pictured wearing the Eagles varsity jacket outside London's Wetherby Prep School (above), Edelstein noted it was the jacket they had sent her. While Diana's jacket was one of a kind, you can purchase an Eagles varsity jacket, or a sweatshirt with a photo of Diana wearing said jacket.
You Might Also Like
