Fashion icon and rock muse Pattie Boyd has announced that she will be auctioning off love letters written by her former husbands Eric Clapton and George Harrison. 

Boyd, a renowned model of the 1960s, met the Beatles singer-songwriter in 1964 while filming A Hard Day’s Night. Boyd and Harrison were married for over a decade before finalising their divorce in 1974, five years before she married legendary rock guitarist Eric Clapton in 1979.

Among the items for auction, referred to as The Pattie Boyd Collection, is a handwritten note from 1970, the envelope marked urgent and addressed to Boyd’s Oxfordshire home. Sent by Clapton, the letter’s contents read, “What I wish to ask you, is if you still love your husband, or if you have another lover?… if there is still a feeling in your heart for me… you must let me know!” Clapton’s iconic track ‘Layla,’ a public tribute to his feelings for Boyd, was written that same year.

A 1971 letter from Harrison is also included in the collection, alongside a series of love notes between the two from the 1960s, written around the same time as Beatles hits ‘I Need You’ and ‘Something,’ both of which are rumoured to have been inspired by Boyd.   

“I’m happy to let go of these things which I have treasured and loved for so many years,” Boyd said of the auction. “These items represent special moments in my life, but now I think it’s time to move on and share what I have with others.”

A wide range of photographs taken by Boyd will also be auctioned off, including a Polaroid of Clapton with his Fender Stratocaster guitar, a.k.a. Blackie, an image of Boyd and Harrison outside their Surrey home Kinfauns, and a series taken during the Beatles’ stay at Maharishi Mahesh Yogi’s ashram in India in 1968.

Handwritten lyrics for Clapton’s unreleased track ‘Sweet Eloraine’ will also be sold alongside Harrison’s original doodle for an Apple Records LP label design. Finally, the auction will be led by the original artwork for Clapton’s cover of Derek And The Dominos’ Layla And Other Assorted Love Songs, which will likely yield between £40,000 and £60,000. 

The Pattie Boyd Collection can be viewed by the public at Christie’s headquarters in London between March 15 and 21.