Fans’ fury as shrine to Freddie removed
QUEEN STAR’S EX CLEANS UP TRIBUTE WALL
FREDDIE Mercury’s former girlfriend upset his fans by removing a “shrine” to the star from his London home.
Mary Austin, 66, cleared moving messages of love from the walls of the £20million Garden Lodge in Kensington because she is sick of her home being “defaced”.
She had the tribute wall cleaned, painted the lodge’s famous green door black and added forbidding signs highlighting CCTV cameras as well as adding a warning that “Graffiti is a crime”.
Queen fan Taylor Daley said: “It’s a sad day at [Garden Lodge].
“For the first time
I’ve come since 2012, plexiglass covers my favourite door without a scribble in sight
& it has ceased to be painted its iconic green.
“I cried at the empty spaces once filled with beautiful, heartfelt messages from people around the world… what a sad moment.”
Another fan called Gabrielle said: “Too bad they took down all the fans’ letters.”
Italian Gianluca Rossicianetti said the makeover left Freddie’s former sanctuary looking like a “Bunker lodge”.
Freddie, real name Farrokh Bulsara, spent his final months at the tranquil home before his agonising death from HIV-related bronchopneumonia in 1991.
The star’s premature passing at the age of just 45 horrified his fans, with Garden Lodge subsequently becoming a mecca for them.
But yesterday Jacky Smith, from the Official International Queen Fan Club, defended Mary’s actions and claimed Freddie would have approved.
She said: “Mary is sick to death of her private home being defaced. “That used to be the main entrance into the house and it got carved on, written on and ruined so many times that she had to replace it again and again and again. “It’s not just her, every house there is worth multi-million pounds and they don’t want to look out of their windows and doors and see a whole wall covered in writing.” Jacky added: “She tried to turn a blind eye to it for a long time, but the neighbours have nagged her consistently and also it is a private home. It’s her sanctuary, as much as anyone’s home is. The fans are more than welcome to go there.
“She takes in the flowers and all that kind of stuff, but I personally don’t see why they want to deface it all the time. Freddie’s not there to read it.
“He loved that house. It was his bolthole, it was his sanctuary. He’d be turning in his grave if he knew people were ruining it.”