At age 74, Mary Austin has finally opened up about why she decided to sell off the priceless belongings of her dear friend and former fiancé, Freddie Mercury.

For decades she held onto the 28-room Kensington mansion and the vast collection of Mercury’s personal treasures after his death in 1991.

She explains that the items were never simply memorabilia but deeply intimate records of a man she loved and knew better than almost anyone.

Mary says the responsibility weighed on her more than most people realise, and after more than thirty years she realised the time had come to make a change.

She recalls living in what she has called “the most glorious memory box,” a home filled with love, warmth and the objects Freddie had collected and surrounded himself with.

But the weight of maintaining that house and preserving his legacy meant that she felt unable to move forward while carrying everything.

In conversations with the press Mary described the decision as difficult, but ultimately necessary: she needed to “put my affairs in order” and close that very special chapter in her life.

She emphasises that she is keeping only a small handful of personal gifts and photographs of the two of them together — everything else has been offered for auction.

It’s not a callous act of disposing of her friend’s possessions; it is a conscious choice borne out of love and loyalty, and a desire to preserve Freddie’s spirit in a different way.

She said of the collection: “This takes you deeper within the individual and the man I knew.”

Among the treasures were his handwritten drafts of songs like “We Are the Champions” and “Killer Queen,” costumes, furniture, artworks and personal effects — nearly 1,500 lots in total.

Mary highlights that these are not simply stage props or cheap nostalgia items — they are tangible parts of the process of the artist at work, the creative journey of Freddie Mercury.

She remembers how Freddie once said, “I like to be surrounded by splendid things… I want to lead the Victorian life, surrounded by exquisite clutter.”

And so the collection became an archive of sorts, documenting his wide tastes in art, fashion and life — a mix of high culture and flamboyant rock-star excess.

One painting by French painter James Jacques Tissot, the last work Freddie bought a month before he died, even hung in the drawing room so he could see it from his sofa.

She wants the world to understand more about the “many facets of Freddie, both public and private” through this auction, rather than hiding them away in a museum archive.

Mary briskly acknowledges that fans might wish these items were permanently preserved together, but she insists that dispersal via auction is in line with Freddie’s own love of collecting and exchanging.

She said “if I was going to sell, I had to be brave and sell the lot.”

For Mary, one of the hardest pieces to part with was the handwritten lyric sheet to “We Are the Champions” — she describes it as showing “for me, the most beautiful side” of Freddie.

Her decision also reflects a practical reality: time passes, children grow older, and the burden of safeguarding everything becomes increasingly onerous.

She has lived in the House at Garden Lodge for over three decades, and now feels the moment has arrived to entrust his memory to the next chapter.

Mary maintains her deep respect for Freddie’s legacy and repeatedly speaks of him in affectionate terms: his humour, his warmth, his energy are things she still deeply misses.

Selling his belongings is not a betrayal of that friendship, she says, but rather an act of closure and a way to honour the man she knew intimately.

As the auction goes ahead, some critics question whether such treasures should have remained intact or gone into a museum — but Mary’s perspective remains: this was Freddie’s world, and she is now letting it reach others.

She knows it breaks some hearts, but she believes Freddie would have understood.

At 74, she is making a deliberate emotional choice: to let go, to move forward, and to invite the world to own a piece of his amazing spirit.

This is not simply an auction of objects, but a poignant farewell, a meaningful shift in how we remember the extraordinary life of Freddie Mercury.