Freddie Mercuy's 'love of my life' Mary Austin spoke emotionally of the final days by his side, caring for the Queen star, sitting with him and brushing his hair: "It was like a marriage, in sickness and in health." - Freddie died the 24th November 1991.
He (Freddie) said: "You can be loved by so many thousands of people but still be the loneliest person. And the frustration of that makes it worse because it's hard for people to understand that you can be lonely.
"Can you imagine how terrible it is when you've got everything, but you're still desperately lonely? That is awful beyond words...
"I can only name one really dear person who I can actually open up to and feel really happy with..."
Mary remained an integral part of his life. She had relationships and two sons while Freddie began to explore his sexuality and dated a succession of men before finally settling down with Jim.
Mary was also employed to manage all of Freddie's accounts and manage his household.
Freddie appeared to have everything. He was the ultimate showman and rarely revealed much about his inner thoughts. However, in one candid interview, he said: "I might have all the problems in the world but I have Mary and that gets me through...
Mary dated the Queen star for six years but remained by his side for the next 15 years as his devoted friend. He left her his West Kensington mansion and the bulk of his fortune. Although he moved on and dated men, ending up with Jim Hutton, Freddie and Mary's bond was unbreakable and she was one of the very few people he trusted to care for him in his final days.
Mary would come every day, along with Freddie's close friend Dave Clarke, who was the person at his side when he died.
Mary spoke movingly of her last moments with the man who had always referred to her as his "common-law wife."
Mary said: "During those times I did really feel such love for him. They were the moments I remembered every time I looked at his bed. I would sit every day next to the bed for six hours, whether he was awake or not.
"He would suddenly wake up and smile and say, 'Oh, it's you, old faithful.'"
After she inherited the lavish home, Mary said it took her many years before she was even able to go into Freddie's bedroom and look at that bed.
She added: "I'd rather it happened the other way round. I should have gone first - I'd rather he miss me than I miss him."
When the film came out critics attacked “Bohemian Rhapsody,” for “straight-washing” Mercury by prominently featuring his relationship with Austin.
By Dana Schuster - NYP Freddie Mercury was one of the biggest musicians in the world in the 1970s and ’80s, but one person could still boss him around: Mary Austin, his one-time fiancée. 
“He would chuck a tube of toothpaste that was half-used into the waste bin and she would go into the bin and get it back and roll the toothpaste back up . . . and [say], ‘You finish the tube. You can’t be wasteful like this, Freddie,’ ” recalled writer Lesley-Ann Jones, who toured with the band in the 1980s and wrote “Bohemian Rhapsody: the Definitive Biography.”
“He would say: ‘But I’m the richest guy in the world!’ And [Austin] would say, ‘I don’t care. You don’t throw away money.’ She was quite bossy. He wouldn’t take that from anyone else.”
Austin was more than just a fling or a beard for Mercury, however.
“All my lovers asked me why they couldn’t replace Mary, but it’s simply impossible,” Mercury said in a 1985 interview. “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.”
“I remember saying to him, ‘No, Freddie, I don’t think you are bisexual. I think you are gay,’ ” Austin told the Daily Mail in a rare interview in 2013.
After his death, Mercury bequeathed Austin the bulk of his $100 million fortune, as well as Garden Lodge, a 28-room mansion in the tony Kensington area of London — despite the fact that the two no longer lived together and Mercury by then had a long-term boyfriend, Jim Hutton.
“Freddie idolized her, really. He was devoted to her,” said Jones of Austin, now 67.
The two ended their relationship in 1976 after Mercury, who was publicly closeted, confessed he was bisexual.
Mercury proposed to Austin with a jade ring in 1973. But by the next year, she had surmised that the singer, by then an international star, was cheating on her with men.
