their famed ‘crown’ lighting rig at the show – which reputedly cost
£50,000 – the group would go on to lose £75,000 over the two
nights, showcasing their love of pomp and glamour ahead of fiscal
success. Mercury himself affirmed, ‘The Jubilee’s quite fun isn’t it?
I love the Queen. I’m very patriotic. I love all this pomp, of course
I do. I love it. She does outrageous things!’
During the same year, Mercury and his long-term girlfriend,
Mary, would agree to a looser relationship, citing too much time
apart for their split, fuelling the rumours that Mercury was,
in fact, homosexual. Mercury would go on to pronounce the
importance of his relationship with Mary, asserting, ‘Our love
affair ended in tears, but a deep bond grew out of it, and that’s
something nobody can take away from us. It’s unreachable. All my
lovers ask me why they can’t replace her, but it’s simply impossible.’
He added, ‘I don’t feel jealous of her lovers because, of course, she
has a life to lead, and so do I. Basically, I try to make sure she’s
happy with whoever she’s with, and she tries to do the same for
me. We look after each other, and that’s a wonderful kind of love. I
might have all the problems in the world, but I have Mary and that
gets me through.’
During recording of the band’s next studio album, ‘News of the
World’, Queen would be in a studio next door to the Sex Pistols,
who were busy recording their breakthrough album, ‘Never Mind
the Bollocks’. In an hilarious encounter, Johnny Rotten had been
so eager to meet Mercury that he crawled on all fours through
his own studio, into Queen’s, sidled up the side of the piano
where Mercury was playing, and drawled, ‘Hello Freddie!’ before
crawling out again. During the same sessions, Mercury also had
a chance encounter with the Pistols’ tragic bassist, Sid Vicious.
Their brief conversation is rumoured to have gone something like
this: Sid: ‘Aren’t you that Freddie Platinum, who’s bringing ballet
to the masses?’ Freddie: ‘Ahh Mr. Ferocious, we’re doing our
best.’
chris devlin
(Chris Devlin)
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