Get the order object in Woocommerce email-header template

I am trying to fetch order items in WooCommerce email header for some conditional content in emails/email-header.php Woocommerce template file

I have tried to print_r the $order but it's empty and not giving any results.

Any help is appreciated.

Update:

Since WooCommerce 3.7, the $email variable is now included and accessible via global, so to get the order object you can use:

<?php
    global $email;
    
    $order = $email->object;
?>

The way to get the $order object, is to include the $email global variable back in the template (as it should be, like in the related hooked function):

add_action( 'woocommerce_email_header', 'email_header_before', 1, 2 );
function email_header_before( $email_heading, $email ){
    $GLOBALS['email'] = $email;
}

Code goes in function.php file of your active child theme (or active theme). Tested and works

Once done and saved, in your template emails/email-header.php you will insert the following at the beginning:

<?php
    // Call the global WC_Email object
    global $email; 

    // Get an instance of the WC_Order object
    $order = $email->object; 
?>

So know you can use the WC_Order object $order anywhere on the template like:

<?php echo __('City: ') . $order->get_billing_city(); // display the billing city ?>

or to fetch order items:

<?php
    // Loop through order items
    foreach ( $order->get_items() as $item_id => $item ){
        // get the product ID
        $product_id = $item->get_product_id();
        // get the product (an instance of the WC_Product object)
        $product = $item->get_product();
    } 
?>

Tested and works