Music

Freddie Mercury's 'final days' by the man who held his hand: 'He let go after doing this'


Peter Freestone lived with Freddie at One Garden Lodge mansion for the last 12 years of the rock star’s life. He was Freddie’s PA and close friend and was paid a wage, but it was rather like Freddie’ partner Jim Hutton was paid as the ‘gardener.’ The star created a family around himself and they all looked after each other. They were all there in those last days when Freddie was unable to even leave his bed, including ex-girlfriend Mary Austin, live-in friend and ‘cook’ Joe Fanelli and fellow musician and close friend Dave Clarke. Peter remembers just how courageously his friend faced the end.

Freddie died on Sunday, November 24, 1991. He had stopped taking medication but continued with the pain killers.

Visibly moved, Peter told Express Online what those last days were like: “For the last week he never left his bed and he was never alone. We did twelve-hour shifts.

“The last time I saw him was on the Friday night. Contrary to belief he did not release the statement about his status on the Saturday. It was released at 8pm on the Friday night but the papers ran it on the Saturday morning.

“I have never seen him so relaxed because the secret was out. There was nothing to hide or worry about. So he could prepare himself.”  

FREDDIE MERCURY; WHY DID HE LEAVE MARY AUSTIN EVERYTHING NOT JIM?

Peter adds: “I would sit on the bed holding his hand so if he woke up someone was there. We chatted, easy conversation about friends or gossip. He never lost his sense of humour.

“The final time I saw him he took my hand and said ‘thank you.’ I didn’t know if he had decided that was it, he was going, there was nothing to stay alive for.

“I don’t know if he was thanking me for everything over the twelve years or just for that last shift. I suppose it doesn’t really matter. But the last time I saw him he was relaxed and prepared…

“We all knew it could not be too long, but Freddie’s doctor had said that he could be with us for quite a few days longer. I tend to feel that Freddie had decided he had had enough and it was time to go under his own terms.”

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Mercury’s partner Jim Hutton was there on the Saturday when the star slipped into a coma and close friend Dave Clark of the Dave Clark Five was at the bedside vigil when he died. It was ex-girlfriend Mary Austin who phoned Mercury’s parents and sister to break the news, which reached newspaper and television crews in the early hours of Monday, 25 November.

This close group, including Peter, had been the only people Freddie had told of his diagnosis from the beginning and they saw it through with him to the end.

Peter remembers Freddie’s determination to not let it beat him or destroy his spirits: “He said, ‘Never regret anything. You’re wasting time when you can’t change it. Get on with what you want to do… He didn’t get depressed. He wasn’t afraid. It was a fact he was going to die. In those days there was absolutely nothing could change that. So he got on with his music. He did so much in those last four years.”

“Never Boring” The Freddie Mercury Solo Box Set is out now and collects all of Freddie’s solo works, as well as rare and unseen photos, sketches, notes and thoughts. 



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