’Those are my favorite colors’: How Princess Diana came by her customized Philadelphia Eagles jacket
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: The story of how Princess Diana came to own her famous personalized Philadelphia Eagles jacket is an interesting one. It all began after a chance encounter at Princess Grace Kelly of Monaco's funeral in 1982.
Kelly died in a car accident in Monte Carlo at the age of 53. Among those attending her funeral was Jack Edelstein, a broadcaster for the Eagles, known for quick wit and amusing anecdotes. Edelstein struck up an unlikely friendship with the Princess of Wales and told her how his team's colors were green and silver, which happened to be Diana's favorite colors as well. And so when Edelstein returned to the US, he sent over a care package full of Eagles souvenirs that included the custom-made jacket, specially tailored for her.
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Lady Diana's Philadelphia Eagles jacket
Princess Di was first pictured in her jacket in 1991 while picking up her eldest son William from London's Wetherby Prep School. She was then pictured wearing it a couple of years later while enjoying the rides in the UK theme park Alton Towers. In 1994, the royal was featured on the cover of People magazine donning the same jacket. The picture became so famous that Jeffrey Lurie, the team's owner at that point, blew it up and hung it in his office. "She sent me a very nice note, how she’d been wearing them around," Edelstein told the Philadelphia Daily News in 1997 after Diana's death. According to that report, the picture of the Princess in the Eagles' colors adorns several bar room walls across Philadelphia.
Princess Diana in her Philadelphia Eagles jacket. pic.twitter.com/X6TARFWRXs
— Mike Sington (@MikeSington) February 11, 2023
'Those are my favorite colors'
Edelstein, who was a close pal of Princess Grace's brother Jack Kelly, an Olympic rower, told the Philadelphia Daily News that besides discussing the NFL, they also spoke about a mutual love of wine spritzes and shared memories of Princess Grace. "She thought football was like soccer," he told the outlet. "She asked, 'What are your colors?' I said, 'Green and silver.' She said, 'Those are my favorite colors'." The broadcaster revealed that the care package also included shorts, golf shirts, and baseball caps. According to him, the idea to send Diana a custom-made, personalized jacket came from then-team owner Leonard Tose.
"We gotta do something special for this woman," Tose's granddaughter Marnie Schneider told CBS Philadelphia this week. "She was not necessarily an Eagles fan, but she did love the colors of the Philadelphia Eagles," she added. Schneider noted that her grandfather was "probably surprised" when he saw the princess rocking the jacket so frequently. Speaking to the Daily News in 1991, British royal family expert Andrew Morton said Diana wore things "because they create a look," adding, "She knows very little about English sports, let alone American teams." It's worth noting that the Philadelphia-born Edelstein was a Navy pilot in World War II and was shot three times. He died in August 2000 after a long battle with liver cancer, according to the Daily Mail.