SHE’S the woman who won Freddie Mercury’s heart and walked away with his fortune – and now she’s about to get another big payday.
Queen frontman Freddie’s ex-fiancée Mary Austin is set to pocket £187.5m thanks to a record deal struck by the band to sell their back catalog to Sony for £1billion.
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Mary Austin won Queen frontman Freddie Mercury’s heart and walked away with his fortune Credit: Rex
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Mary and Freddie were still close in 1977, a year after their split Credit: Camera Press
She already received half of the British rocker’s estate when he died in 1991, and then another 25 percent when his parents died.
But Londoner Mary also gets 18.75 per cent of the proceeds from Queen Productions, which controls the band’s catalog and also pays out surviving members Roger Taylor, John Deacon and Brian May.
Mary has very little contact with them these days although she and they also serve as trustees of the Mercury Phoenix Trust, a charity set up in the singer’s honour.
But her latest windfall is now likely to push Mary out of Britain’s 100 richest women.
She met Freddie for the first time in 1970.
He was an unknown musician in his twenties who had moved to London from his native Zanzibar six years earlier, while she was a 19-year-old art student.
They lived together and got engaged in 1973.
But Mary remembered the time, three years later, when Freddie told her he was gay, after they had been together for six years.
In a rare interview, Mary, now 73, recalled: “He said, ‘I think I’m bisexual.’
“I told him, ‘I think you’re gay.’ And nothing else was said. We just hugged.”
Art collection
Indeed, their relationship remained strong – with Freddie pledging his undying love, begging Mary to remain his closest confidante and rewarding her by moving her into a flat near his West London home.
Interestingly, Freddie, who had countless male lovers, said: “All my lovers have asked me why I can’t replace Mary, but that’s impossible.
“The only friend I have is Mary and I don’t want anyone else.
“For me, she was my common-law wife.
“For me it was a marriage.
I’m a Queen fan and was amazed to find a spitting image of Freddie Mercury on my cat’s leg
“We believe in each other.
“That’s enough for me.
“I couldn’t fall in love with a man the same way I did with Mary.”
He dedicated his 1975 song Love Of My Life to Mary, but the following year, unable to hide his homosexuality any longer, he revealed that he was gay and broke up with Mary.
From the early eighties, it was rumored that he was infected with HIV.
But according to his longtime partner, Irish-born hairdresser Jim Hutton, who died in 2010, Freddie was only diagnosed with the disease in 1987.
As Freddie’s health deteriorated, Mary became a carer at his home in West Kensington.
When Freddie died in 1991, aged 45, he left Mary 50 per cent of his future earnings, 25 per cent to his Indian-born parents and 25 per cent to his sister.
But Mary’s share rose to 75 percent after Freddie’s father Bomi died in 2003 and mother Jer in 2016.
Freddie also left Mary his 28-room property – now valued at £30m – as well as an incredible collection of Louis XV art and furniture.
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Mary avoided the limelight and opted for a private life Credit: Sophia Spring / The Telegraph
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Austin recently announced that she will sell off the entire contents of Freddie’s West Kensington homeCredit: News Group Newspapers Ltd
Mary has avoided the limelight and prefers a private life.
But in 2013, in a rare interview, she said that inheriting most of Freddie’s fortune was a burden that caused “bitter resentment” among the singer’s inner circle, not least his former bandmates.
She said: “I don’t think the remaining members of Queen ever came to terms with it.
“I don’t understand that.
“I never hear from them.
“After Freddie died, they just wandered off.”
Mary has grown-up sons Jamie and Richard with her ex-painter Piers Cameron.
Both sons are believed to have been privately educated but also keep a low profile.
‘I had to be brave and sell a lot’
Mary later married businessman Nick Holford, but that relationship was short-lived, and it is believed that she is now in a relationship.
Still, she surely finds solace in the enduring popularity of Queen – as evidenced by the huge box office success of Freddie’s biopic Bohemian Rhapsody in 2018.
The film, which stars Rami Malek as Freddie and Lucy Boynton as Mary, was panned by critics but grossed over £700m.
Mary has reportedly collected at least £40 million in royalties – and that hasn’t stopped her from growing her fortune even further.
In April last year, she announced that she would sell off the entire contents of Freddie’s house in West Kensington.
She said: “The time has come for me to make the difficult decision to close this very special chapter in my life.
“If I was going to sell, I had to be bold and sell a lot.”
Auctioned at Sotheby’s last September, its £7m estimate quickly dwarfed the £40m sale, with some of the money going to charity.
Meanwhile, the final details of the deal with Sony for the back catalog are being ironed out – while Freddie’s gift keeps on giving.
A spokesman for Queen declined to comment.
The representatives of Marija were also contacted for comment.
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Rami Malek as Freddie and Lucy Boynton as Mary in the biopic Bohemian Rhapsody
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Freddie died in 1991, leaving most of his fortune to MaryCredit: Getty
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