Pattie Boyd collection sells for almost £3 million at auction

26 March 2024, 09:33 | Updated: 30 April 2024, 15:42

Pattie Boyd with George Harrison and Eric Clapton with an item of her collection inset. Picture: Keystone-France/Gamma-Keystone via Getty Images, JUSTIN TALLIS/AFP via Getty Images, Evening Standard/Getty Images

By Jenny Mensah

The collection included letters, notes and artwork from Boyd's former husbands George Harrison and Eric Clapton.

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A collection of personal memorabilia belonging to Pattie Boyd - the ex-wife of Eric Clapton and the late Beatle George Harrison - has fetched almost £3 million at auction.

The Pattie Boyd Collection, which included artwork, photos, Christmas cards, clothing, handwritten postcards and letters from her famous love triangle with the musicians, has sold for a total of £2,818,184 at Christies.

The lot also featured designs and sketches from the famous musicians, including the original artwork Clapton chose for the cover of Derek and the Dominos’ 1970 album Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs, which fetched £1,976,000.

Elsewhere, the original handwritten lyrics for Harrison’s song Mystical One sold for £47,800, while a love letter from Clapton in January 1971, written on a page torn from John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men, sold for £119,700.

attie Boyd holds an original design doodle for an Apple records LP label by late English musician and Beatles member George Harrison. Picture: JUSTIN TALLIS/AFP via Getty Images

The former fashion model - who has been cited as the inspiration behind the Harrison-penned Beatles' ballad Something, and Clapton's Layla and Wonderful Tonight tracks - said of the sale: "I am completely blown away by the enthusiasm of international bidders for these special treasures that I have always loved."

She added: "I am so happy that new hearts will now enjoy them, as they enter into their next ‘chapters’.

"I am lucky that my life today continues to bring me joy and different adventures – I would encourage people to follow their passions and live their lives with gusto.”

Boyd first met Harrison on the set of the 1964 Beatles film A Hard Day’s Night and they married in 1966.

Harrison was friends with Clapton and he would often spend time at the couple's come in Surrey, where they struck up their own love affair.

Boyd divorced The Beatles guitarist in 1977 and went on to marry Clapton in 1979, although they eventually divorced in 1989.