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,” and 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.
Blonde bob
“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.
Legend has it that Eric and George duelled on their guitars into the night for the right to call Pattie their own.
And once Pattie had gone off with Eric, who wrote his hits Layla and Wonderful Tonight about her, George forgave them both, even going to their place for dinner the Christmas after the split. It was a relaxed end to what had been a powerful love.
George fell for Pattie’s slender legs, big blue eyes and blonde bob in 1964 when she turned up for a small role in The Beatles movie A Hard Day’s Night in a Mary Quant micro-mini skirt.
At the end of the first day, when she got up the courage to ask for an autograph, George drew seven kisses beneath it, whereas he had drawn only one for each of the other signature hunters.
The first two times George asked the then 19-year-old out she said no, because she was dating a photographer.
But the “quiet one” of the Fab Four, only one year her senior, would not give up so easily. On his third attempt she said yes, having split from the other man.
Take me, I am yours
Eric
Although Pattie was already a Vogue magazine cover girl, her modelling fees more than quad-rupled once she was with George.
Following a whirlwind romance they got married at Epsom register office in Surrey in January 1966, not far from the large bunga- low where they lived in Esher.
One of their regular visitors was Eric, who performed on George’s 1968 Beatles song While My Guitar Gently Weeps.
The more time the trio spent together, the more Eric longed to be with Pattie. In 1970 he could no longer hide his feelings, and sent the first of his letters to her.
Eric, who was dating aristocrat Alice Ormsby-Gore, wrote: “I am writing this note to you, with the main purpose of ascertaining your feelings toward a subject well known to both of us . . .
“As you have probably gathered, my own home affairs are a galloping farce, which is rapidly degenerating day by intolerable day.”
Because Eric had not signed the letter, Pattie did not realise it was from him until he told her.
That September he recorded one of the most famous songs about unrequited love, Layla.
It was his nickname for Pattie and the lyrics included the lines: “Tried to give you consolation, when your old man had let you down, like a fool I fell in love with you, you turned my whole world upside down, Layla.”
What I wish to ask you is, if you still love your husband, or if you have another lover?
Eric
The Beatles were in the process of breaking up and George’s frustration with the rest of the band had spilled over into his relationship.
Eric was clearly aware of the marital turmoil and his next letter, sent a few months after the first, was more forthright.
Written to Dear Layla, it read: “Why do you hesitate, am I a poor lover, am I ugly, am I too weak, too strong, do you know why?
“If you want me, take me, I am yours. 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.”
But Pattie rebuffed Eric’s advances, and his addictions to drink and drugs grew steadily worse.
Meanwhile, the love triangle grew more complex. George was reported to have had an affair with Ringo Starr’s wife Maureen, with Pattie finding them in bed together.
Later Pattie started sleeping with Rolling Stone Ronnie Wood, who was still with first wife Krissy and was another of Eric’s friends.
During one stay at George’s new home in Henley, Oxon, Ronnie indicated to his host that he would be spending the night in Pattie’s room.
According to Ronnie, the ex-Beatle was not too concerned and is believed to have enjoyed a fling with Krissy.
In 1974 Eric finally decided to confront George, telling him he wanted his wife.
Pattie has never con- firmed the story that they played their guitars to try to prove who was more worthy of her.
George was deeply hurt by her decision to go off with his friend, but he accepted the split and the two guitarists remained close pals.
He found happiness with his second wife Olivia, who had worked at his record label. They wed in 1978, had one son, Dhani, and stayed together until George died of cancer in 2001 aged 58.
Things did not end well for Pattie and Eric, with her tiring of his alcoholism and womanising.
Having married in 1979 they divorced a decade later after several unsuccessful attempts to have children and his affair with Italian model Lory Del Santo — who gave birth to Eric’s son Conor in 1986.
I regret allowing myself to be seduced by Eric and wish I had been stronger
Pattie
In her 2007 auto-biography Wonderful Today, Pattie wrote: “I regret allowing myself to be seduced by Eric and wish I had been stronger.
“I believed marriage was forever, and when things were going wrong between George and me I should have gritted my teeth and worked through them.
“And I wish I’d known I didn’t have to be a doormat and allow both hus-bands to be so flagrantly faith-less.”
After several affairs, Eric has been married to Melia McEnery, 31 years his junior, since 2002.
Pattie wed property developer Rod Weston in 2015 and remains good friends with Eric.
As well as Eric’s letters she is also selling some from George, as well as other assorted items.
They include the original painting used on the cover of Eric’s 1970 album Layla And Other Assorted Love Songs, which is expected to fetch up to £60,000.
The online auction by Christie’s runs from March 8 to 22.
Pattie said: “I thought, ‘Why don’t I just sell everything and let everybody else enjoy it?’”
