Items that had once belonged to late Brit actress Audrey Hepburn were auctioned off in London yesterday.

Included in the sale were letters that Hepburn had written about the end of her affair with James Hanson, the British industrialist to whom she had been engaged for more than a year.

The unpublished letter, which had been written on November 6, 1952, revealed the low point the actress went through after she called off her marriage.

It is one in a series of letters Hepburn and Hanson had sent to Tanja Star-Busmann, who had been asked to be the actress” bridesmaid, telling her about the postponement and cancellation of the marriage.

The letters sold for 3,800 pounds in London on December 8 at a sale organised by Kerry Taylor Auctions.

Star-Busmann had been Hepburn’’s friend from the age of 15, and when she went to Broadway in 1951 to star in the stage version of ”Gigi”, the actress passed her unwanted clothes on to her.

“This became something of a fabulous tradition,” Timesonline quoted Star-Busmann as having written in the auction catalogue.

“Over the years a cavalcade of boxes filled to the brim with haute-couture evening dresses, divine little cocktail ensembles, easy-to-wear silk ”at home” supper dresses, sensible tweed coats, chic little day suits and glamorous dressing gowns, often accompanied by wonderful accessories, arrived at my door.

“Unpacking them was always like Christmas a thousand times over,” she stated.

The wedding dress Hepburn was to have worn was given to Amabile Altobella, a girl from Latina, 40 miles southeast of Rome.

“I have had a happy marriage, so the dress brought me luck,” Altobella said.

Included in the sale was a Givenchy Chantilly lace cocktail dress Hepburn had worn in 1966 in ”How to Steal a Million”. It fetched 60,000 pounds.

The wedding dress and 48 of Hepburn’’s designer outfits sold for 268,320 pounds.

Half the proceeds from the auction will go to charity.