‘It is with a heavy heart that I am no longer engaged’: Audrey Hepburn’s secret letters unearthed and up for sale at auction
THE notoriously private actress penned emotional letters detailing her private life
HOLLYWOOD icon Audrey Hepburn was notoriously secretive about her personal life - but a collection of letters that reveal her highs and lows as she approached stardom are going on sale this month.
The 10 letters were sent between 1951 and 1960 to her mentor and close friend Sir Felix Aylmer, revealing the transition and strains of going from an unknown actress to fame.
Audrey scrawled notes about her feelings regarding her broken engagement, the birth of her son and her new love interest, the .
The collection also includes a 1951 postcard she sent from the film set of Monte Carlo Baby, aged 22, which reads: "Would you believe it, I'm in Monte Carlo working on a French Picture.
"This place is heavenly and this is the best thing that's ever happened to me."
When Sir Felix agreed to give Audrey acting and elocution lessons that accelerated her career, the pair formed a lifelong friendship.
Now Sir Felix's family are selling some of her personal letters for the first time and experts claim they provide a unique window into her emotions and viewpoints.
In one letter Audrey explains "with a heavy heart" that she has called off the marriage to James Hanson after he pushed her to have the ceremony during a busy shooting period.
The actress had been filming Roman Holiday at the time, and despite their engagement her fiance was photographed leaving nightclubs with actresses which also prompted her split from the industrialist.
She wrote: "It is with a heavy heart I am writing to tell you James Hanson and I are no longer engaged, I know there is little I need explain to you, a gentleman of this profession.
"For a year I thought it possible to make our combined lives and careers work out...It is all very unhappy making but I am sure it is the only sensible dicision [sic]."
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In 1954 the Breakfast at Tiffany's star married American actor Mel Ferrer, and she penned another note inviting her mentor to their wedding.
"How dearly we would love you to be with us on our wedding day, 25 Sept and how very much it matters to me," Audrey wrote.
"Please come we will have the car take you up to our mountain peak, Friday, for a gathering in our chalet of our nearest and dearest!
"Saturday will be the wedding...We want to keep it a dark secret in order to have it without the 'press'."
The couple successfully married away from prying eyes and, because her new husband had recently divorced, secrecy was particularly important to the pair.
In the years following their marriage Audrey had two miscarriages, then when she eventually gave birth to a baby boy she wrote to Sir Felix to share her joy.
She penned: "Sean is truly a dream, and I find it hard to believe he is ours to keep. I long to show him to you."
The collection is due to go under the hammer at London auction house Bonhams Entertainment Memorabilia in Knightsbridge.
An original image taken in 1967 featuring Audrey in a yellow bikini relaxing by a pool, signed by photographer Terry O'Neill, is up for grabs.
Experts suggest it could be sold for around £2,000.
Katherine Schofield, head of entertainment memorabilia, said: "What is so interesting about them is that they cover the period of her life where she went from being an unknown to a global superstar.
"They're incredibly personal and she hints at what she's doing career-wise but they're more about her emotions, and her gratitude towards Sir Felix Aylmer."
