John Lennon's letter to Queen Elizabeth II valued at euro 73,000

London: A letter written to the Queen Elizabeth II by the Beatles star John Lennon, explaining why he returned his Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE) to Buckingham Palace, has been valued at Euro 60,000, says auctioneers.

The note remains in royal archives but a version of the letter was brought forward at a special Beatles memorabilia day held at The Beatles Story exhibition in Liverpool, reported The Telegraph.

According to a person from The Beatles Story, the owner of the letter, who wished to remain anonymous, said it was a copy, which they found in a collection of 45rpm records at a car boot sale 20 years ago.

The letter, which was recently unearthed in the owner's attic, has been described as an "incredible find" by Darren Julien of Los Angeles-based Julien's Auctions, who believes it may be the original letter.

"If you're writing to the Queen, you want the letter to look pretty perfect, you don't want the ink to be smudged.

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

"We'll be doing some further research but this could be the Beatles find of the year. There is no doubt that the handwriting is definitely that of John Lennon," Julien said.

In his letter, Lennon wrote, "Your Majesty I am returning this MBE in protest against Britain's involvement in the Nigeria-Biafra thing, against our support of America in Vietnam and against Cold Turkey slipping down the chart." "With love John Lennon."