Freddie Mercury sings Love of My Life at Wembley in 1986
Freddie Mercury was an extraordinary presence on stage and in public, and he could be just as outrageous and provocative in private with his nearest and dearest.
His former girlfriend Mary Austin is preparing to auction off a spectacular array of the Queen legend’s private effects in September.
Freddie left Mary his London home, Garden Lodge in Kensington, along with the bulk of his fortune.
She looked after him there in his final months, along with Freddie’s partner Jim Hutton and live-in friends Peter Freestone and Joe Fanneli.
But photographs of the star’s final parties there also show another striking blonde by his side.
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In the outrageous Queen video for It’s A Hard Life, Freddie looks up at the voluptuous woman leaning over the balcony above him. He sings the following classic lines to her: “Two lovers together, to love and live forever in each other’s hearts.”
This wasn’t a stunt or a video play-acting. The woman was Barbara Valentin and her daughter says Freddie was “the love of her life.”
Since 1979, Freddie had been so taken with the German nightlife and his freedom from the invasive British press that he increasingly spent much of his free time there. He moved there from 1983-5 and bought a flat with Barbara.
Freddie’s PA and close friend Peter Freestone said: “They had the most intense, loving relationship. I know one hundred percent they shared a bed on numerous occasions.”
Barbara was notorious in Germany as the provocative star of saucy films.
Freddie’s friend Peter Straker said: “I was told he just met this woman who was larger than life. Barbara was very outrageous. She was the queen of nudity.”
Royal Ballet star Wayne Sleep added: “Freddie was with a woman. So I thought, ’There you go. He’s not predictable at all, is he, this boy?'”
Another friend said: “It was almost like he enjoyed being with someone who had a wilder reputation than him.”
Even Barbara’s daughter Minki Reichardt said: “I know they were in love. I know that my mother was in love with him because she said so.
“I think their relationship was very close and very intense. They really liked the conflict. They were talking, shouting, arguing, and then they were in their arms again, it was always very lively. I think Freddie was the love of her life.”
Barbara’s German friend Elisabeth Volkmann went even further: “Freddie loved Barbara. Barbara loved him. And it was a big love between both. If he wouldn’t be homosexual, maybe they are married.”
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Freddie did spend some nights at Barbara’s apartment on Stollberg Strasse above the Oyster Cellar. But the Queen star never lived in the apartment he bought with Barbara on Hans Sachs Strasse. He returned to England for good in 1985 before Barbara actually moved in, so he never actually spent a night there.
As for their nights together, Freestone said: “I wasn’t sitting in the room (so) I can’t tell you yes or no if sex happened. If it had, Freddie could not have been quiet about it.”
Whatever her feelings for Freddie, Barbara was under no illusion about his sexuality.
During the final years in Germany Freddie also met local Austrian restauranteur Winnie Kirchberger. Their tumultuous relationship lasted two passionate years – despite the fact that neither spoke the other’s language.
Like Mary before her, Barbara loved and supported Freddie and, in this case, provided even more vital and personal help and translations for the men’s relationship.
Freestone said: “it was sometimes comical to watch the arguments happening… Both Freddie and Winnie would be screaming at Barbara who had to do her best to try to sort out the jumbled emotions.”
In September 1990, Freddie threw his last-ever birthday bash. The following year he would be far too ill.
His close friend Dave Clarke, who was the man by his side when he died, recalled a very intimate night, filled with those Freddie loved most, including Barbara.
Clarke said: “On his last birthday, he just invited 30 of his closest friends and there were 30 different courses, done by his personal chef, Joe Fanelli, and 30 different types of wine to go with each course.”
Barbara herself passed away from a stroke on February 22, 2002.
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