Pattie Boyd, Eric Clapton and George Harrison ‘love triangle’ letters up for auction

By Jack Guy, CNN

(CNN) — Mementoes from the personal collection of British photographer and model Pattie Boyd, who inspired a raft of famous songs by former husbands George Harrison and Eric Clapton, are going under the hammer.

Boyd is “one of the greatest muses in rock history,” auction house Christie’s said in a press release Monday, adding that the collection offers “a fascinating glimpse into the lives of some of music’s most influential and iconic figures.”

Harrison wrote a number of songs about Boyd, including “I Need You,” “For You Blue” and “Something,” while Clapton penned “Layla” about her.

As Harrison’s wife, Boyd was there when the Beatles went through the frenzy of Beatlemania, the journeys of psychedelia and mysticism and the crumbling of their partnership.

With Clapton – who ardently pursued her for years – she witnessed a guitarist at the peak of his solo fame as well as his struggle with addiction.

Among the items on offer is a love letter written by Clapton in 1970, when Boyd was already married to Harrison, one of the songwriter’s close friends.

“I am writing this note to you, with the main purpose of ascertaining your feelings toward a subject well known to both of us,” the letter begins. “What I wish to ask you is if you still love your husband, or if you have another lover? 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!”

Clapton asks Boyd not to telephone, but to respond with a letter, writing: “That is much safer.”

Mysteriously signed “E,” Boyd told Christie’s she initially thought the letter was from a “weird fan,” and even showed it to Harrison.

“It’s a very beautifully written letter, but the writing is so small — it takes up not even a third of the page,” said Boyd. “It’s like he was rather shy about writing it. It’s like a whisper instead of a talk.”

Despite Boyd rejecting his advances, Clapton continued to pursue her, and wrote another letter which is also part of the auction.

In this letter, written on a torn out page of the novel “Of Mice and Men,” Clapton writes: “If you don’t want me, please break the spell that binds me. To cage a wild animal is a sin, to tame him is divine.”

After that the pair didn’t see much of each other for years, but then Boyd left Harrison in 1974 after discovering he was maintaining a number of affairs, according to Christie’s.

Clapton and Boyd were eventually married in 1979 and stayed friends with Harrison, who even referred to Clapton as his “husband-in-law,” according to Christie’s.

However, Clapton and Boyd would split in 1987 after their relationship was affected by “substance abuse and infidelities,” reads the press release.

Now, Boyd says auctioning off these items is a cathartic process.

“I thought, ‘Do I need them? Do I need to keep going into Pandora’s Box?’ I’ve enjoyed them for many, many years, and now it’s time for other people to see and enjoy them. It’s only right I should pass them on,” she told Christie’s.

Items up for sale include photos of Boyd, Harrison and Clapton, as well as postcards, telegrams and letters.

The auction will run online from March 8-21, and the items will be on display at Christie’s in London from March 15-22.

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