Mary Austin never discussed Freddie Mercury relationship with her sons

Mary Austin "never told" her sons anything about Freddie Mercury - even though she inherited his house and half his fortune.

The 75-year-old former shop assistant dated the late Queen frontman for six years, and they remained very close friends until he died in 1991, but she never discussed their bond with her boys Richard and James - who she has with ex-husband Piers Cameron and they only became aware of how the family came to own their home a few years ago, when she began arranging an auction of some of the Bohemian Rhapsody singer's possessions.

She told The Guardian newspaper: “The boys had no idea until they were in their late 20s.

“They knew nothing about Queen, because I never told them. I never told them about Freddie. Ask Jamie when you see him. Ask him when he first realised.

“Jamie thought we’d inherited the house from his great-grandfather. He made it up. When he was young, he brought his friend to the house. In my head I can see them close to the piano, mid-conversation, photographs are on the piano, and Jamie is telling his friend, ‘Yes, the house used to belong to my great-grandfather.’ And I thought, wherever did you get that from?

“There were [photos of Freddie in the house], on the piano, but Jamie never asked. Nobody asked. They were just there.”

Asked how the conversation went when she told them about her inheritance and Freddie being the love of her life, she said: “It never did. I never talk to them about money. Money goes into the bank account if you need to pay for anything...

"They were young boys growing into teenagers and young men. I’ve read so many psychology books about young boys and how many hormonal changes they go through and how complex they are, and I thought, you have to enjoy your life. Your childhood is key to who you are.”

Mary admitted she has asked her sons very little about Queen over the years and was reluctant to broach the topic because she didn't want to upset herself.

Asked if Jamie listened to Queen, she said: "I haven’t even asked him that question. I just didn’t want him to grow up being anybody else other than himself. I’d lived around Freddie, and how d’you ever describe anyone like Freddie? It takes a lifetime. And it took my lifetime, even though he’s been dead for so much of it.

"Talking about [Freddie] used to make me cry. Why would I do that to make myself upset?”

But Jamie insisted he was more aware of Freddie's bond with his mother than she realised and avoided the subject so as not to cause Mary "pain".

He said: “So, when I was younger, there was a tendency for parents to speak about my mother’s association with Freddie, and I didn’t really want that association. I just wanted to be seen for me. So I would tell people I was at school with that it was actually inherited by my grandfather.

"Obviously everyone knows who Freddie Mercury is. It’s true that my mother decided not to talk about Freddie, but there were lots of Freddie’s CDs in the house. One of the first bands I listened to was Queen because the house was filled with them.