Love letters from Eric Clapton to Pattie Boyd that reveal guitarist’s pursuit of George Harrison’s wife to be auctioned

SHE was the woman who inspired three of the greatest songs of the rock era – Something, Layla and Wonderful Tonight.

But beautiful model Pattie Boyd was also the reason rock guitarist Eric Clapton betrayed his best friend, Beatle George Harrison, in a bitter rivalry for her love.

Secret letters sent by Eric to Pattie in 1970 — when she was married to George — reveal how he was determined to make her his own, no matter what.

In one he begs her: “Take me, I am yours.” In another he writes: “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.”

They led to Pattie leaving George for Eric four years later — but remarkably, Eric has now agreed for her to share intimate details of his treachery with the world when she sells the letters.

Next month Pattie, 79, is putting them up for auction, along with several other deeply personal items from her relationships with the two rock superstars.

She said: “The letters from Eric, they’re so desperate and passionate, a passion that blooms once in a lifetime, I think.

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“Even now, if I were to read those letters, it makes me terribly sad. I’ve had them in a little trunk and occasionally I’ll have a look and start to read, and my heart beats, it jumps, because it’s heartbreaking. They’re too painful in their beauty.”

Even more bizarre than the torrid love triangle itself was the way it played out.