Lady Diana (†)
The story of her Philadelphia Eagles football jacket
© Julian Parker/UK Press / Getty Images
The Philadelphia Eagles play the Kansas City Chiefs Sunday night to win the 57th Super Bowl. Would Lady Diana have cheered for the Pennsylvania team? She wore a Philadelphia Eagles fan jacket back in 1991 – that’s the story behind it.
When the teams from Kansas and Philadelphia meet on Sunday at the 57th Super Bowl, some superstars will keep their fingers crossed. The “Philadelphia Eagles” include A-list actors Bradley Cooper, 48, Will Smith, 54, and Kevin Hart, 43, among their fans. A famous former supporter of the team seems to be quite different: in the early 1990s, Princess Diana, † 36, wore a “Philadelphia Eagles” jacket several times in public.
Lady Diana was a fan of the colors of the “Philadelphia Eagles”
Was she really a fan of the East Coast team? Almost. Because although the late Princess of Wales owned an Eagles varsity jacket and wore it several times in public in the ’90s, her delicate voice probably never said, “Go Birds!” called. Instead of a love for the team or the sport, Diana had a love for the colors green and silver. At the funeral of Grace Kelly, † 52, the Brit is said to have experienced and excited that these are the club colors of the “Philadelphia Eagles” (to this day). Because that’s where the story of Lady Diana and her Philadelphia Eagles jacket began.
In 1991, Diana wore the Eagles jacket when she picked up Prince William from school.
© Jayne Fincher/Princess Diana Archive / Getty Images
It all started at Grace Kelly’s funeral
While paying her respects to the late Princess of Monaco, Diana met Eagles statistician Jack Gemstone, a longtime friend of Kelly’s brother. He told her about his club and that the players wear green and silver. “These are my favorite colors,” Diana is said to have answered – and he remembered it. Inspired by their interaction, Juwel persuaded the team’s then-owner, Leonard Tose, to put together a package of Eagles merchandise as a gift for the then-Princess of Wales. This included her custom made iconic bomber jacket. And Diana was supposed to keep it for nine years until she wore it in public for the first time.
On a trip with her sons Prince William and Prince Harry to the “Alton Towers” amusement park, Diana also relies on the comfortable Eagles jacket.
© Julian Parker/UK Press / Getty Images
This is where Diana wore the football bomber jacket for the first time
In 1991, Diana was photographed wearing the jacket outside London’s Wetherby Prep School as she picked up her son, Prince William. A little later she wore the jacket during a trip with Prince William and Prince Harry to the “Alton Towers” amusement park. In 1994, a picture of this event even graced the cover of the US American People magazine.
Source used: So Many Thoughts by Elizabeth Holmes, NBC Sports