The quirky reason Princess Diana wore a Philadelphia Eagles jacket

Penny Goldstone
By Penny Goldstone
published

There was often a story behind Princess Diana's outfits, even the more casual ones, like the Virgin sweatshirt she wore at the gym.

And in 1991 and 1994, she was spotted wearing a Philadelphia Eagles bomber jacket, which was a pretty random choice for the Princess of Wales I think you'll agree, given that they're an American football team.

There was actually a quirky reason behind it, and it all starts with Princess Grace of Monaco, who sadly died in 1982. Diana went to the funeral to represent the Crown, where she met Jack Edelstein, who was the statistician for the Eagles and a friend's of Grace Kelly.

The pair got to chatting about lots of things from politics to football, according to Edelstein, who recounted the story to the Philadelphia Daily after her death.

He said, 'She thought football was like soccer. She asked, "What are your colours?" I said, "Green and silver." She said, "Those are my favorite colors."'

So when he got back to the States, he immediately got a bunch of merchandise made just to send to her.

'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. 'She sent me a very nice note, how she'd been wearing them around.'

Penny Goldstone
Penny Goldstone

Penny Goldstone is the Digital Fashion Editor at Marie Claire, covering everything from catwalk trends to royal fashion and the latest high street and Instagram must-haves.

Penny grew up in France and studied languages and law at the Sorbonne Nouvelle University in Paris before moving to the UK for her MA in multimedia journalism at Bournemouth University. She moved to the UK permanently and has never looked back (though she does go back regularly to stock up on cheese and wine).

Although she's always loved fashion - she used to create scrapbooks of her favourite trends and looks, including Sienna Miller and Kate Moss' boho phase - her first job was at MoneySavingExpert.com, sourcing the best deals for everything from restaurants to designer sales.

However she quit after two years to follow her true passion, fashion journalism, and after many years of internships and freelance stints at magazines including Red, Cosmopolitan, Stylist and Good Housekeeping, landed her dream job as the Digital Fashion Editor at Marie Claire UK.

Her favourite part of the job is discovering new brands and meeting designers, and travelling the world to attend events and fashion shows. Seeing her first Chanel runway IRL at Paris Fashion Week was a true pinch-me moment.

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