Pattie Boyd, the model and muse behind some of rock's most famous songs, has spoken about the emotional impact of rediscovering old love letters from George Harrison and Eric Clapton, both of whom she married in turn. The letters, part of a wider collection of her possessions sold at auction by Christie's in 2024, capture the intensity of the romantic rivalry between the two musicians, whose devotion to Boyd inspired classics such as Harrison's "Something" and Clapton's "Layla".

Boyd first met Harrison on the set of A Hard Day's Night and married him within two years, before leaving him in 1974 amid an affair with Ronnie Wood and later marrying Clapton, who had long harboured feelings for her. The auctioned letters include a desperate, undated note from Clapton dated October 1970 pleading for her love, contrasted with more understated declarations from Harrison. Both marriages ultimately ended in divorce, in 1977 and 1989 respectively, and Boyd, who remarried in 2015, told The Standard in 2024 that rereading the letters "brought me to tears" while reflecting on a period of passion she felt lucky to have experienced.