The iconic Eagles varsity jacket made famous by Princess Diana is trending again thanks to the Super Bowl 2025 match between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles. Thanks to the late royal, the jacket is considered one of the most recognizable NFL jackets worldwide.
In 1982, the late Eagles statistician Jack Edelstein met Diana at the funeral of Princess Grace of Monaco. During the reception, the two were conversing, and the topic of American football came up.
Diana, Princess of Wales, wearing a Philadelphia Eagles jacket to drop off her son Prince Harry at Wetherby School in London, January 1991.
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“She thought football was like soccer,” Edelstein said to “Philadelphia Daily News” after Diana passed away in 1997. “She asked, ‘What are your colors?’ I said, ‘Green and silver.’ She said, ‘Those are my favorite colors.’”
After their meeting, Edelstein promised to send Princess Diana some Philadelphia Eagles T-shirts, but the team’s then-owner, Leonard Tose, thought a varsity jacket was more elevated and fitting. She was photographed wearing the jacket numerous times, including on a trip to Alton Towers Theme Park and once to drop off her son, Prince Harry, at Wetherby Prep School in 1991.
Last December, Mitchell & Ness rereleased a recreation of the Philadelphia Eagles varsity jacket.
The jacket received the star treatment on a special edition of “Sunday NFL Countdown” on ESPN in 2023. The television show interviewed Diana’s former bodyguard Ken Wharfe, and told the story behind the Eagles jacket.
In addition to Wharfe, the special also featured Marnie Schneider, the granddaughter of former Eagles’ owner’s granddaughter, Leonard Tose, who gifted Diana the jacket when he owned the team. Victoria Murphy, a journalist covering the royal family, also appeared in the segment.
As the former Princess of Wales and ex-wife of England’s then-Prince Charles, now King Charles III, Princess Diana was one of the most watched women in the world until her untimely passing in 1997.
She is credited with helping to catapult further the career of Gianni Versace, the popularity of the Lady Dior Bag, which was named after her as she was Lady Diana Spencer before marrying Prince Charles, and the success of the knitwear label Warm & Wonderful. In September, the princess’ black sheep sweater from Warm & Wonderful she wore in 1981 fetched more than $1 million at a Sotheby’s auction.
