'Beatlemania? It was kind of irritating'

Pattie Boyd talks to Joe Bromley about opening her private archive for anew auction which reveals the passion of her love triangle with George Harrison and Eric Clapton

- Joe Bromley

WHAT happens when the Sixties It girl airs her dirty laundry? In the case of Pattie Boyd — one of the great models and muses of her generation — you get a couple of psychedelic minidresses, the odd finely printed silk skirt by Karl Lagerfeld for Chloé, and a stack of love letters which detail the juicy, epic battle between The Beatles’ George Harrison and Eric Clapton for her heart.

Herein lies the premise (OK, it’s not exactly how the auction house put it) of the 80-year-old’s Christie’s sale — 111 lots, on view for all in London until Thursday, ahead of the sale on Friday. The four-time Vogue cover star — who enjoyed a passenger seat in the writing of music history as the wife of Harrison (1966-77), and Clapton (1979-89), and who is the inspiration behind their love songs Something and Layla respectively — raised eyebrows when she decided to put a “random” selection of her personal items under the hammer. Highlights include reams of photographs she took herself, illustrations by Ronnie Wood, the Layla painting, Clapton’s guitar picks and a diamond watch.

She came upon the idea last year, after “clearing out some things”, she says in her soft, proper English accent. “I find it really easy to accumulate things well past their sell-by date. Suddenly I remembered I’ve got loads of clothes in one trunk, some letters in another…”

The uncovering of the latter — hand-penned notes from her ex-spouses, both in twenty-something love-struck dazes — has seen the resurfacing of one of music’s greatest love triangles.