One of the three main women in poet Philip Larkin’s life has revealed the one true love he begged to see on his deathbed – and admitted it wasn’t her.
He began a sexual relationship with Monica Jones, a lecturer in English at Leicester, in the early 1950s, but he began seeing fellow librarian Maeve Brennan in 1962, behind her back.
The final girl of the trio was his secretary Betty Mackereth, who became involved for five years while he was still with the other two, and he continued to triple-time the women until 1978.
Larkin and his girlfriend Monica Jones ,pictured together while out boating in the late 1950s. He revealed on his deathbed that he truly loved Ms Jones
All three remained unfailingly loyal to him, despite his infidelities.
Significantly, Ms Mackereth knew all about his other two lovers – Larkin even asked her advice on juggling his arrangements – but neither of them knew about her.
And Ms Mackereth told a BBC Four documentary that airs later this month that he was visited by Ms Brennan before he died, but she reveals it was Ms Jones he truly loved all along.
She told the programme: ‘He said to me, not many hours before he died, “Maeve came to see me, I didn’t want to see Maeve, I wanted to see Monica to tell her that I loved her”.
‘I felt like saying to him, “You stupid man, why the hell didn’t you marry her years ago?”
He began a sexual relationship with Monica Jones (pictured together in 1984), a lecturer in English at Leicester, in the early 1950s
Scholars have long disputed which of the three women Larkin (pictured) really loved the most
Her admission clears up one of the British poetical circle’s greatest mysteries of the 20th Century, with scholars disputing which of the women was his true muse.
Ms Mackereth also claimed that she would never have married Larking, despite getting on well during her 28 years as her secretary, and revealed her disdain for devout Catholic Ms Brennan.
She was a bit namby-pamby,’ she said.
‘I couldn’t have made a friend of her.
‘She was a pest, she fawned on him, she was always there. She was a flaming nuisance.’