Princess Diana's personally-worn cream-colored Ralph Lauren Polo Sports sweatshirt, presented by Princess Diana to Deborah Gribble, the chief stewardess of Dodi Fayed’s family yacht Jonikal, the night before Diana and Fayed were killed in a car crash on August 31, 1997. The medium-sized cotton/acrylic sweatshirt is embroidered with large red “USA” lettering on the front, and the lower left cuff reads “RL Sport” in dark blue thread. In fine condition, with a couple trivial stains.
The recipient of the sweatshirt, Deborah Gribble, served as the chief stewardess on the Jonikal, a luxury yacht owned by Mohamed Al-Fayed, the father of Princess Diana’s romantic partner, Dodi Fayed. In late July 1997, Al-Fayed hosted Diana and her two sons, William and Harry, on a cruise of southern France aboard the Jonikal, and then, in the third week of August, Diana and Fayed shared a private cruise of the Italian Riviera before flying from Athens to Paris on August 30th; Gribble, who was given this sweatshirt shortly before departing the Jonikal, was one of five staff members who joined the couple on the flight. Less than a day later, Diana, Fayed, and driver Henri Paul perished in a car crash in the Pont de l'Alma road tunnel as they attempted to evade paparazzi.
The sweatshirt is accompanied by an image of Diana wearing it, two magazine images of Gribble with Princess Diana and Dodi Fayed as they depart Sardinia, as well as a copy of a newspaper article based on Gribble and her experience with Diana. Gribble was also interviewed as part of the CNN two-hour special Diana: Chasing a Fairytale, which aired in the summer of 2017 and can be viewed below:
https://archive.org/details/CNNW_20170828_030000_The_Nineties/start/1020/end/1080
