It’s no surprise that Freddie loved throwing lavish birthday parties, always topped off by extravagant cakes. The final enormous one ever made recreated his apartment building in Montreux. The Swiss city became a sanctuary where he spent many of his final months and laid down his last ever vocals for the posthumous Made In Heaven album. It was made by actress turned cake maker Jane Asher, who used ten photographs of the building to create the spectacular confection.
However, Freddie celebrated his final two birthdays at home in London.
In his final months and days a small inner circle kept him company at all times and then kept vigil by his bedside. One of those was fellow rock star Dave Clarke, who was the last person with Freddie when he died on November 24, 1991.
He spoke to Express Online and desctibed their friendship and his amusement at the typically lavish birthday bash.
Clarke said: “I miss Freddie, like a lot of his friends do, because he made you laugh, made you smile. He was larger than life.”
“We all come from the same background. But he had class and style, Freddie, no question.
“On his last birthday, he just invited 30 of his closest friends and there was 30 different courses, done by his personal chef, Joe Fanelli, and 30 different types of wine to go with each course.
Clarke perfectly summed up the night and his friend in two simple words: “Never boring.”
The guestlist included Freddie’s nearest and dearest.
INCREDIBLE PICTURES FROM FREDDIE’S FINAL BIRTHDAY PARTY BELOW
The party included Dave Clarke as well as the inner circle of One Garden Lodge – Freddie’s live-in PA and friend Peter Freestone, his live-in chef and ex-boyfriend Joe Fanelli, his partner Jim Hutton and his ex-girlfriend Mary Austin.
Mary can be seen at Freddie’s right hand throughout the dinner.
The other blonde lady on his left is Austrian actress Barbara Valentin who became close to the star when he was living in Germany in the mid 1980s.
Watch the fan-made video below, although the critical comments about Jim Hutton don’t take into account the fact that guest clearly swapped seats during the evening.
DON’T MISS
Freddie Mercury had one huge REGRET about Michael Jackson friendship (INTERVIEW)
Freddie Mercury final days: Mary Austin made his biggest dream happen (REPORT)
Freddie Mercury: Why John Deacon DIDN’T visit Queen star at the end (INSIGHT)
https://www.youtube.com/embed/5XGWzhvyINc
Clarke described what all of Freddie’s friends knew – that the great showman was intensely devoted to his friends in private. That joy can be seen in pictures from the party.
Clarke added: “He was very artistic. He was quite shy, Freddie was. On stage, the bigger the better: he’d play to 100,000 people and he was amazing.
“In private, he was a lovely person, great class, great style. I mean — he had a Picasso in his bathroom. It was amazing.
“He had great, great style. And he cared about people, which was nice. You see his videos and you think he’s just totally off-the-wall but he’s not. He’s just a person.”
Source: Read Full Article
