The Queen performing Bohemian Rhapsody at Live Aid in 1985
Despite media attempts at the time to portray Freddie’s final days as lonely and pathetic, he was surrounded by friends and loved ones 24 hours a day, to make sure he was never alone. The Queen star was looked after 24/7 by his partner Jim Hutton, ex-girlfriend Mary Austin, live chef and ex-boyfriend Joe Vanelli, close friend Dave Clark, PA and friend Peter Freston. Not only that, he had “kids” around him, and six of his beloved cats at home. One of them “dominated the roost”, the other left and never returned after Freddy’s death and the other was his favourite. She was there with him in bed, in the last image taken from the sick icon.
Freddie’s long-term friend Mary Austin bought her first pair of kittens in the early 1970’s. Tom and Jerry through the years have followed Tiffany, Dorothy, Delilah, Goliath, Lily, Miko, Oscar and Romeo.
The cats would receive their own stockings at Christmas, and when Freddie was on tour he would call home and Mary or his personal assistant Peter Friston would carry the cats to the receiver.
“Freddy would do nothing without her,” Peter said of Delilah arriving home with the black cat Goliath. “She was… hm… I think the word is rotten. She got everything she wanted. On the last round, I was in the house. Every two or three days He was ringing and wanted to talk to a cat. You pick it up and put it under your arm, put the speaker out of its mouth and press (to make it meow) and then he said he talked to Delilah and he was really happy.
Freddie Mercury with Gingerbread Cat Oscar (photo: INSTA)
Freddie Mercury in his garden with a cat (photo: INSTA)
Delilah, said Jim, was “the little princess of their house, the one he picked up and stroked most often… One of his last acts was to stroke her fur.”
She can be seen with Freddy and Miko is the last photo taken of the star, having breakfast in bed with his cats.
Jackie Smith, who ran the Queens fan club, said Delilah “was a real character, that lady. She was a bit of a bully to others, but she was always on his lap first, first for food.”
The album Innuendo includes a track written about and named for the cat. Delilah’s lyrics include the classic lines “when you throw in a moody mood you’re all claws and bite” and “you make me a little grumpy, when you piss all over my Chippendale stand.”
Freddie Mercury in bed with his cats just before he died (photo: Friston)
Another famous photo shows Freddie in his garden in August 1991. By then his health was failing and he was usually cooped up indoors, but he made a special effort to dress himself in his nicest clothes and caught Jim off guard as he photographed some flowers. The cat next to him is Oscar.
Peter said, “Oscar was the first cat in the Garden Lodge. He was a big ginger Tom. He ruled the roost. Until Fred died, he just left. He left the house. He didn’t want to stay there anymore. He found another owner.”
“Freddy used to say, ‘You own dogs, cats own you.’ I think that was one of the reasons he loved cats. Freddy loved their temperament.”
Freddie Mercury and Jim’s partner with one of his cats (photo: PH)
The Queen Innuendo album includes Freddie’s cats (photo: PH)
Jim said, “Freddie treated the cats like his own children. He was constantly nagging them, and if any of them got any mischief while Freddie was away, heaven helped us. During the day, the cats ran the house and at night, one of us would collect them and let them in.”
Freddie even dedicated his solo album, Mr. Bad Guy, to them: “My cats Jerry – also Tom, Oscar, Tiffany and all cat lovers in the whole universe – fool everyone else.”
He commissioned artist Ann Ortmann to paint all of his cats over the years, and the album artwork for Innuendo shows the Queen facing off with three cats wrapped around his head and neck.
And for his recent shoot in This Are the Days of Our Lives, he wore his favorite bra, a 1990 Christmas gift screen-printed with his cats.
Freddie Mercury’s cat is immortalized on this bib (photo: PH)
Aside from the original pair Tom and Jerry, and then Tiffany, the only purebred cat he owned, the others were “rescued” by Freddy.
“Most of them were from rescue centres. We have a charity called The Blue Cross, that looks after sick animals. Freddie’s got at least two of them,” Jackie said.
The star showered them with love and attention throughout his life and made sure to take care of them when he passed away. He once joked, “If I go first, I’ll leave everything to her (Mary). Nobody gets a penny, except my cat.”
In the end, he left Mary his home, fortune, and half of his future earnings to the Queen. The other half went to his parents and sister, with Jim, Jo and Peter each bequeathing £500,000.
The cats stayed at the Garden Lodge (except for Oscar) and Delilah was often seen on the garden wall.
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