PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — August 31, 2022 is the 25th anniversary of Princess Diana's death in Paris. Many news outlets are marking this sad day with photos of the late princess, and one of them circulating widely is Diana wearing an Eagles jacket. Former WIP talk show host, former NBC Sports Philadelphia Eagles analyst and author of ‘Eagles Encyclopedia’ Ray Didinger shares the story behind the jacket...
He says it goes back to 1982 when Princess Grace Kelly passed away. A family friend named Jack Edelstein, who worked at the Eagles Radio Network, went to her services. That's where he met Princess Diana.
Edelstein brought up his work for the Eagles. Diana knew nothing about American football, so the first question she asked was, "What are [the Eagles'] colors?"
When he replied with green and silver, Diana noted those are her favorite colors.
Edelstein then returned home and shared this with then-Eagles owner Leonard Tose. That’s when Tose had the famous bomber jacket made for her in green and silver, with a big Eagles logo on the back.
Once it was sent off, they had no idea if the princess would even get hold of the gift, let alone wear it. But lo and behold, there was a picture that came out a few weeks later of her walking around London and wearing the jacket. Not too long after that, the picture turned up on the cover of People Magazine. That’s when it became a massive deal.
Didinger says she wore the jacket a lot. She really liked it. When Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie bought the team, he had the picture blown up and hung in his office. He thought that highly of it.
So for those of you who remember going to the supermarket, seeing a People Magazine with Princess Diana wearing an Eagles jacket and wondering, “where did this come from?” Now you know the story behind it.