Newly revealed letters have shed fresh light on a notorious love triangle between George Harrison, his close friend Eric Clapton, and rock’s most legendary muse, Pattie Boyd.
The model was admired and pursued by both men during the 1960s and 1970s and inspired some of music’s greatest ever love songs, including Harrison’s “Something” and Clapton’s “Wonderful Tonight” and “Layla”.
She married Harrison first before being persistently pursued by his close friend Clapton – both marriages eventually breaking down.
Now, she says “it’s time to move on” as she sells the touching love letters from both musicians at an auction for Christie’s.
The sale includes two significant handwritten love letters from Eric Clapton – each estimated to be worth £10,000 to £15,000. One was hastily sent to the Harrison home around the same time he wrote “Layla”, a famous ode to unrequited love named after a woman in a Persian tale about a man driven to obsession by love.
It said: “What I wish to ask you is if you still love your husband?” said Clapton. “All these questions are very impertinent, I know, but if there is still a feeling in your heart for me… you must let me know!”
A second letter was written on a torn-out page of John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men.
