Freddie Mercury had a secret daughter with whom he had a close relationship until his tragic death, a new biography claims.
The book, by author Lesley-Ann Jones, tells the extraordinary story of the Queen frontman’s child from an illicit relationship.
Love, Freddie claims the girl was conceived accidentally during an affair with a friend’s Catholic wife, who refused to have an abortion.
The musician is said to have visited his daughter regularly, gifting her 17 volumes of detailed personal journals which she kept private.
The daughter, who is known only as B, is now aged 48 and works as a medical professional in Europe, according to the Daily Mail.
A handwritten letter from Mercury’s daughter, who wishes to remain anonymous, reads: “Freddie Mercury was and is my father.
“We had a very close and loving relationship from the moment I was born and throughout the final 15 years of his life.
“He adored me and was devoted to me. The circumstances of my birth may seem, by most people’s standards, unusual and even outrageous.
“That should come as no surprise. It never detracted from his commitment to love and look after me. He cherished me like a treasured possession.”
Mercury started writing the diaries when he first learned about the pregnancy in 1976, the same year that Queen’s smash hit Somebody to Love was released.
Only Mercury’s parents Bomi and Jer Bulsara , sister, Kashmira, bandmates Brian May, John Deacon and Roger Taylor, and long-time companion Mary Austin knew about the birth.
Mercury’s writings chronicled his childhood in Zanzibar, attending a British-style boarding school in India and moving to London in 1964.
His final entry in his notebook was in July 1991, four months before his death from bronchial pneumonia caused by AIDS aged 45.
In another letter included in Ms Jones’s book, B explains her reasons for sharing her father’s journals, saying: “After more than three decades of lies, speculation and distortion, it is time to let Freddie speak.
“Those who have been aware of my existence kept his greatest secret out of loyalty to Freddie.
He cherished me like a treasured possession
“That I choose to reveal myself in my own midlife is my decision and mine alone. I have not, at any point, been coerced into doing this.
“He entrusted his collection of private notebooks to me, his only child and his next of kin, the written record of his private thoughts, memories and feelings about everything he had experienced.”
Ms Jones, a veteran music journalist, revealed she was first approached by B three years ago.
She recalled: “My instinct was to doubt everything, but I am absolutely sure she is not a fantasist.
“No one could have faked all this. Why would she have worked with me for three and a half years, never demanding anything?”
