Freddie Mercury.
When Freddie Mercury died in 1991 at the age of 45, his fortune was worth an eye watering £37.5 million, roughly around $A78 million today.
The singer left a bulk of his estate, including his 28-bedroom London mansion and his share of all Queen royalties to ex-fiancée Mary Austin.
According to The Sun, Mary’s windfall has since been described as a “curse”, with her going on to see subsequent relationships crumble, suffer serious illnesses, and navigate a difficult rift with the remaining Queen members.
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Freddie Mercury and Mary Austin. Picture: Barney Hindle/The Post/Getty Images
Living for years surrounded by the ghosts of her memories of him, she eventually decided to put the musician’s memorabilia up for auction in 2023 and put the house on the market in February 2024.
The late Queen frontman’s cherished residence, Garden Lodge, has offers above £30 million ($A58.4 million). It has not yet sold.
“The time has come for me to take the difficult decision to close this very special chapter in my life,” Mary said at the time.
However, it was revealed this week that Freddie’s sister, Kashmira Bulsara, secretly spent £3 million ($A6.2 million) to snap up many of the items.
Kashmira was said to be devastated to see the music legend ‘s belongings being flogged by Mary and was prepared to pay over the odds to keep them in the family.
For Mary, now 74, it marked the end of an era that in every way was defined by her relationship with the singer – both when he was alive, and after his death.
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The pair spent most of their time in Freddie’s London mansion, which she eventually inherited Picture: Barney Hindle/The Post/Getty Images
Unfilled void
Just months before his death, Freddie signed a will that gave Mary half of his estimated £10 million fortune and his 28-bedroom Kensington mansion, filled with valuable art and Louis XV furniture.
Terrified to accept this burden, she initially urged him to let it become a museum.
Meanwhile, his parents and his sister both received a 25 per cent share.
Mary was also entrusted with his ashes – and instructed never to reveal where they would eventually be placed, which would create further rifts with Freddie’s family.
For two years, they sat in a plastic bag inside the urn, before she slipped out of the mansion without her driver to bury them.
Despite rife speculation among fans that they had been buried in a West London cemetery, or under a cherry tree in his mansion’s garden, Mary has remained loyal to his wishes and never revealed his final resting place.
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British rock band Queen (left-right) Brian May, Freddie Mercury, Roger Taylor and John Deacon. Picture: Koh Hasebe/Shinko Music/Getty Images
Reclusive life
With Freddie gone, there was now a hole in her life that could never be filled – a later marriage to businessman Nick Holford eventually ending in divorce.
For years, she lived as a recluse behind the high spikes walls of the mansion, keeping to herself and avoiding the fans making pilgrimages.
There was also financial pressure, as it took eight years for her to receive the bulk of what she had been left in his will.
“It was the loneliest and most difficult time of my life after Freddie died,” she later recalled.
“I found myself thinking, ‘Oh Freddie, you’ve left me too much and too much to deal with as well.’ I felt I couldn’t live up to it.”
Nor did his former bandmates jump to take her under their wing – reportedly jealous that she had inherited so much – though they have met since.
“I don’t think the remaining members of Queen have ever reconciled themselves to it,” she said in a 2013 interview.
“I don’t understand it. I never hear from them. After Freddie died, they just wandered off.”
Nonetheless, Mary is still able to enjoy the dividends of her relationship with Freddie – receiving royalties from the success of the 2018 biopic Bohemian Rhapsody and the sale of Queen’s back catalogue to Sony.
But nothing could ever come close to replacing the man himself.
She later explained: “I lost my family, really, when Freddie died. He was everything to me, apart from my sons. He was like no one I had ever met before.
“I miss the fun, the humour, his warmth, his energy.”
Freddie had dated Mary from 1969 until the late 1970s, and the couple were engaged for a time.
He wrote Queen’s 1975 song “Love Of My Life” as a tribute to her.
Their relationship ended after Freddie eventually came out to her as gay, but they remained close friends until his death. Mary also cared for Freddie during his illness.
Parts of this story first appeared in The Sun and was republished with permission.
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