Third Beatle Weds (1966)

 

Third Beatle Weds (And then there was One)

No writer listed

Liverpool Daily Post

January 22, 1966

    Beatle George Harrison married 21-year-old blonde model Pattie Boyd yesterday morning, and sprang his surprise on his legions of fans.  He becomes the third married Beatle.

      The wedding, which took place at the register office in Epsom, Surrey, was a well-kept secret, and there were none of the screaming, surging crowds which usually mark a Beatle occasion.

     The wedding, which was the only one of the morning at the register office, was timed for 11 o'clock, but George arrived 20 minutes early. A little later, the best man, Beatle manager Brian Epstein, arrived in his red Rolls-Royce with Paul McCartney.

     Then an undecorated saloon car with obscured windows swept into the forecourt of the register's office, and out stepped the bride. Miss Boyd. She wore a three-quarter-length red fox fur coat over a dark red shot [sic] silk outfit with white lace stockings and mod shoes. She carried a spray of spring flowers. 

    George, who was 23 in February, wore a black Victorian-style suit with black suede Chelsea boots. The ceremony was both light-hearted and short. It took only seven minutes for the black suited registrar, Mr. Leonard Clarke, to say a few words and slip the white and pink gold wedding ring on the bride's finger.

` The marriage certificate was made out in the names of Miss Patricia Boyd of 22 Strathmore Road, Wimbledon, and George Harrison of King Fauns [sic] Claremont Drive, Esher.  The bridegroom signed his occupation simply as a musician and the bride as a model.

     Only 13 guests were present at the ceremony, which was held in a small, blue and white-walled room. They crowded round the polished mahogany table, on the center of which stood a vase of daffodils and tulips. 

    The only members of George's family present were his parents, Mr. and Mrs. George Harrison [sic] of Warrington, and a friend, Terry Doran, who owns a Liverpool garage. John Lennon and Ringo Starr are still holidaying in the Caribbean with their wives, but before they left England, Pattie and George told them of their plans, and so they were able to send congratulations to the newlyweds. 

    Wedding presents from the other Beatles are a secret as yet, but impresario Brian Epstein has said that he intends to give them an antique dining table.

     As the news of the wedding spread locally, housewives gathered in the forecourt of the register's office, but George and his wife went out to a waiting car through a rear corridor, which was lined with office workers.

     As they left, a radiant Pattie smiled. "This is the happiest day of my life. George is wonderful." Grinned George, "We won't be taking a honeymoon, as we would be hounded all the time."

     Then the couple who met in March 1964 on the set of the first Beatles film, A Hard Day's Night, drove off, and Paul McCartney, who as a bachelor is the odd man out in the group, was left in something of a predicament. "Now the rumors start about me, I suppose," he said.