“I Shall Miss You With Passion and Wild Regret”
This letter was written by Richard Burton to his ex-wife Elizabeth Taylor. When they first met, they were working together on the set of the Hollywood movie Cleopatra in 1960. At the time, they were both already married, but fell in love and left their respective spouses for one another. Burton and Taylor actually divorced twice. This was their first divorce, before getting back together and remarrying later on.
“You’re off, by God!
I can barely believe it since I am so unaccustomed to anybody leaving me. But reflectively I wonder why nobody did so before. All I care about—honest to God—is that you are happy and I don’t much care who you’ll find happiness with. I mean as long as he’s a friendly bloke and treats you nice and kind. If he doesn’t I’ll come at him with a hammer and clinker. God’s eye may be on the sparrow but my eye will always be on you. Never forget your strange virtues. Never forget that underneath that veneer of raucous language is a remarkable and puritanical LADY. I am a smashing bore and why you’ve stuck by me so long is an indication of your loyalty. So I shall miss you with passion and wild regret.”