Inside one of music’s greatest love triangles: Letters reveal why Pattie Boyd left George Harrison for Eric Clapton as the model puts the ‘heartbreaking’ correspondence up for auction

Pattie Boyd is planning to sell letters from her notorious love triangle with guitarist Eric Clapton and Beatles legend George Harrison – saying she finds them ‘heartbreaking’ to read back.

The 1960s model and muse, who was the inspiration for both musicians, said she has Clapton’s permission for the auction of the love letters.

She famously captured the hearts of two of the leading voices of her time, inspiring Harrison’s Beatles classic, Something, and Clapton’s Wonderful Tonight and Layla.

 

Boyd, the daughter of a retired RAF bomber pilot, wed Harrison in 1966 but the marriage lasted just under 10 years. In that time, she was pursued by his friend Clapton – who expressed his love for her in letters.

The model eventually went on to marry the guitarist in 1979 and they both remained close with her ex-husband, but divorced in 1988.

The earliest letter, written by Clapton, is dated 1970 when Boyd was still married to Harrison. It asks if she still loves her husband and asks if she has another lover.

He goes on to acknowledge that his words are ‘impertinent’ but adds: ‘If there is still a feeling in your heart for me, you must let me know.’

At first, she mistook it as a letter from a fan, as it was signed only with ‘all my love, E’.

But her real admirer called her that evening to expose his identity.

Written several months later on a torn out title-page from Of Mice and Men, a second letter expressed Clapton’s sorrow that she remained with her husband.