Freddie Mercury and former fiancee Mary Austin (Image: GETTY)
‘s bond with fiancée Mary Austin was so strong that she continued to live in the Kensington home the couple shared for more than three decades after his death.
It wasn’t until February 2024 that she placed the luxurious 28-room abode, Garden Lodge, up for sale. The pair had lived there, “together emotionally”, for years until the tragic frontman died of AIDS-related complications in 1991, aged just 45.
She described the home as “the most glorious memory box” filled with “love and warmth in every room”, before reluctantly putting it onto the market with an asking price of a minimum of £30 million. It followed her decision the previous year to list a treasure trove of Freddie’s personal possessions for auction – with just a few extra-meaningful gifts and photos of the pair of them excluded.
Around 1,400 special items, including a Yamaha piano and even a Tiffany & Co moustache comb were first displayed in an exhibition, Freddie Mercury: A World Of His Own, before being transferred to a week-long Sotheby’s auction.
Mary, whom Freddie once poignantly described as his “common-law wife” and “only friend”, was sad to see the majority of her tangible physical memories of him go. Referring to their fairytale life together in Garden Lodge, she wistfully told magazine: “It has been a joy to live in and I have many wonderful memories here.
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Freddie Mercury once said Mary Austin was his ‘only friend’ (Image: GETTY)
“Ever since Freddie and I stepped through the fabled green door, it has been a place of peace, a true artist’s house, and now is the time to entrust that sense of peace to the next person,” she revealed.
Meanwhile, addressing the auction, Mary explained: “I hope this will be an opportunity to share all the many facets of Freddie, both public and private, and for the world to understand more about, and celebrate, his unique and beautiful spirit.”
Following Freddie’s death, she married painter Piers Cameron and went on to welcome two sons with him in the 1990s.
After divorcing him, she found love a third time with businessman Nick Holford, but that relationship ended too – and the romances she’s had since Freddie haven’t dimmed the memories of him.
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Freddie Mercury and Mary Austin (Image: Getty)
She declared to the last year that she continues to miss his “fun, humour, warmth and energy”, 33 years after his death.
The pair first met in 1969 and dated for seven years.
Mary, who was just 19 when he walked into the Biba clothing store where she was working, was instantly attracted to his “confidence” and “artistic” flair.
Even though their relationship eventually ceased to be physical, as far as Freddie was concerned, they were in a “marriage” until the end – and he left the majority of what he owned to her.
In one 1985 interview with People, he highlighted how they had a bond that transcended physical attraction, explaining: “The only friend I’ve got is Mary, and I don’t want anybody else.
“To me, she was my common-law wife. To me, it was a marriage. We believe in each other, that’s enough for me.”