John Lennon's letter to the Queen goes on show at the Beatles Story

Letter written by John Lennon to the Queen explaining why he returned his MBE
MIRROR


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John Lennon's letter to the Queen goes on show at the Beatles Story
Letter was discovered inside a record sleeve at a car boot sale
BYCATHERINE JONES
25 NOV 2016


The letter from John Lennon to the Queen which is going on display at The Beatles Story

A letter John Lennon wrote to the Queen handing back his MBE is set to go on show in Liverpool today.

The draft version of the letter which the Beatle penned as an act of protest in 1969 was valued at £60,000 during a memorabilia day at The Beatles Story last month.

Now the key piece of Beatles history is going on show at the Albert Dock attraction.

The letter reads: “Your Majesty

I am returning this MBE as a protest against Britain’s involvement in the Nigeria-Biafra thing, against our support of America in Vietnam and against Cold Turkey slipping down the charts.

With love. John Lennon of Bag”


The Beatles with their MBEs (Photo: ©Mirrorpix)

The draft copy was uncovered inside a record sleeve which was part of a collection the current owner picked up at a car boot sale for £10 two decades ago.

Darren Julien, chief executive of LA-based Julien’s Auctions which held the memorabilia day, says it could be “the Beatle find of the year”.

He added: “John Lennon never actually sent this version to the Queen when he famously returned his MBE. You can quite clearly see the signature in this letter has been smudged.


John Lennon and Yoko Ono in 1969. Lennon returned his MBE to the Queen as a protest against Britain's involvement in war "and Cold Turkey slipping down the charts".

“My theory is that John Lennon never sent this draft because of the smeared ink. If you’re writing to the Queen, you want the letter to look pretty perfect.

“This suggests he wrote a second version of the letter, which was the one that was actually sent to her.

“The handwriting has been confirmed by three independent experts and I personally verified that the writing was original and not a colour copy”.

The letter will be on show at The Beatles Story for three years.