Princess Diana Wore Her Iconic Eagles Jacket So Her Sons Would Think She Was "With It"

If ever you needed proof that even the coolest parents will do anything to get a bit of street credibility from their kids, look no further than Princess Diana’s Philadelphia Eagles’ bomber jacket. She wore the classic Kelly green jacket after it was gifted to her in the ‘90s because she was hoping to be seen as a cool mom by her two sons. That’s right, according to her former bodyguard, the Princess of Wales, fashion icon, legendary beauty, trendsetter, put on a football jacket so that her sons would think she was “with it.” She really was one of us.

Princess Diana’s former bodyguard Ken Wharfe spoke to ESPN for Sunday NFL Countdown recently about her famous Philadelphia Eagles’ bomber jacket. A jacket she was photographed wearing several times when she was with her two sons, Prince William and Prince Harry, in the ‘90s.

“Diana always craved the normalcy,” Wharfe, who was Princess Diana’s bodyguard from 1988 to 1993, told ESPN, per People. “By being a member of the royal family, that was almost impossible. Neither William or Harry, when they were kids, wanted their mother to sort of dress in her finery, take them to school.”

With her sons in mind, Princess Diana made an effort to be “as casual as possible,” according to Wharfe. Wearing the Philadelphia Eagles jacket to drop Prince Harry off at school and again on a 1994 day trip with both boys to Alton Park theme park. Wharfe explained that she didn’t wear the jacket “to impress the people at school.” Rather, “she wanted to be seen as a young mother that was, you know, ‘with it.’ Diana loved to be different, this was her style. It sort of showed the public and her children that she was a normal mother in a style that people liked.”

Princess Diana’s casual style did become a hallmark of her time as a member of the royal family. She was often photographed in jeans tucked into her boots or running out to the gym in bike shorts and oversized sweaters. She also made efforts to be available to her sons as a “normal” mom in other ways, like taking them to theme parks or McDonald’s or even getting Prince William a cake in the shape of boobs for his 13th birthday to make him laugh.

She didn’t need that Philadelphia Eagles jacket to be a cool mom, but she looked cool in it nonetheless.