Freddie never made any secret of his love for extravagance. The Queen icon was often extravagantly generous with friends and family. He famously said: “Money may not be able to buy happiness but it can damn well give it!” But he still maintained a very clear perspective on what was truly important, behind all the glitz and glamour. He revealed what truly made him happy were the more personal moments and gave a gorgeous example.
Freddie said: “A little gift, a gesture, a nuance…means far more than someone buying you Big Ben.”
That was how Freddie knew if someone really cared about him, really understood him, really saw the man behind the megastar.
He explained; “The other day Mary gave me a wonderful present that I haven’t seen before. It’s something that no-one else would think of and it might be totally useless for you, but it’s from someone who cares and that’s what matters.
“She gave me this little gift that she went out of her way to arrange.”
Freddie continued: “It was the newspaper of the day that I was born… It was The Times, September 5th, 1946. And she also got me 1846, which was wonderful.
“She said, ‘This’ll keep you busy, dear. You can read it while you’re on the throne.’ I like to read when I’m having a cra*p!
“I thought it was a lovely little treat – just a little something. There’s reams and reams of paper and it was wonderful.”
It’s just as wonderful to imagine Freddie’s delight receiving something so personal from someone he loved so much. And he also admitted his frustration with people who didn’t make any effort.
Freddie said: “It is totally farcical to assume that people who have money don’t need little gestures like that, like everyone else.
“There might be people who pooh-pooh that kind of stuff but they must be very boring types.
“Some people think you have all this wealth, so ‘What can I possibly get you as a present? You have everything so I can’t buy you anything.’ I think that’s a cop-out.
“There’s tons of things I need. I hate all those excuses. They think they can’t give you something that doesn’t cost much because it’s going to be beneath you, but that’s absolute cr*p.”
ALL QUOTES FROM FREDDIE MERCURY: A LIFE, IN HIS OWN WORDS. OUT NOW