This new book makes a startling revelation about British rock icon Freddie Mercury

A daughter and a secret

Months before his passing in 1991, Freddie is said to have given 17 personal journals to his then 14-year-old daughter, instructing her to read some of them only after she turned 25. Referred to as “B” in Love, Freddie, Mercury’s daughter reached out to Jones in 2021 after reading her then latest release Love of My Life: The Life and Loves of Freddie Mercury.

PIC/Mick Rock, with thanks to Pati Rock

“She wrote me a 41-page email telling me that this book was the closest anyone has gotten to describing Freddie’s personal life. Initially, I didn’t believe her. However, some of the things she wrote about were a bit too specific. I was also intrigued that she did not want the publicity or even a book being written.  There was nothing in it for her. After months of correspondence and verifying facts, I realised that she was genuine. Then I really persuaded her about writing a new book considering all these new facts,” Jones says, in an exclusive conversation with mid-day. 

A medical professional based in Switzerland, Jones writes, B has lived a very privileged life thanks to her stepfather and her mother, and Freddie who also provided for her. Shuttling between homes in London, Switzerland and France in chauffeur-driven cars and private jets, the affluence and commitment of all parties involved, helped to create various opportunities for her to spend time with her father privately. 

Two years after B initiated contact with Jones, the author flew to Montreux to meet her and stayed on for a few days. “I saw a small sample of a very massive collection of items: these journals, Polaroid pictures, cards he has given her, videos where one can see her call him ‘Daddy’ and him responding. Nothing prepared me for when I first met her: her eyes, nose, jawline, skin tone are unmistakably Freddie.”

Jones adds, “Freddie started keeping a private journal in 1976, with the first entry made soon after he learnt that he was going to be a father. In this duration, he wrote about his everyday life, his childhood, his faith, his various relationships, and made several entries that pertain specifically to his interactions with his daughter.”

PIC/GETTY IMAGES

His last entry was made a few months before he died in 1991 of AIDS-related complications. “His writings to her about his various life experiences really make you reset your priorities and make you want to hold your own children closer. I was so affected by the process of writing this book. I knew I had to take the risk because Freddie’s life was not for nothing!” Jones says, her voice cracking with emotion.

Freddie Bulsara from India

In Love, Freddie, B talks extensively about Freddie’s Parsi roots. He was born on Fravardin, or what is considered Parsi New Year as per the Shenshahi calendar, in September 1946.  Theirs was a typical Parsi family which performed the Loban ritual every Sunday and observed celebrations like the 18-day Muktad festival. Freddie is said to have spoken Gujarati fluently with his parents.

Jones adds, “People incorrectly assumed Freddie had a Parsi funeral in London at his parents’ behest. But his diaries detail on multiple occasions how much his faith meant to him. He meditated often and is said to have given B the traditional sadhra [cotton vest] and kusti [cord] that Parsis customarily wear and raised her with Zoroastrian beliefs.”   

His understanding of Ahura Mazda being Ahura as masculine and Mazda as a feminine noun in Persian, comforted Freddie about praying to a deity who is worshipped as the embodiment of both genders. Freddie, who was born in Zanzibar, was sent to India at the age of eight to study at St Peter’s School, Panchgani, a boarding school for boys, while his parents and sister stayed back. In the journals that he has shared with B, Jones says, he has chronicled the horror and the good times of his eight-year stay.

The book details how Freddie’s effeminate features caught the attention of a teacher who raped him multiple times, compounding the pain of being away from home and irreversibly breaking his ability to connect emotionally with anybody. “His school years were very damaging. He was bullied for being shy, raped by someone he trusted, and struggled to process life away from home. He suffered from tremendous anxiety.” 

But Freddie also loved the extravagance of Indian royalty, India’s pluralism and his aunt Sheroo Khory from Bombay, who introduced him to the piano at age 12. “India gave Freddie the joy of playing and appreciating music that helped him heal. He had a commissioned mural of Panchgani at his London home Garden Lodge. He also had a cake shaped like the Taj Mahal. Just because he didn’t speak about his Indianness to the press, didn’t mean that he was embarrassed of it,” Jones reasons. 

Why the anonymity?

Mindful that coming into the public eye would affect her children, her patients, effectively ruin her career, and damage any shred of privacy her immediate and extended family have, B’s decision to remain anonymous and not share any images, could also be legal. “It is possible that she doesn’t own the notebooks despite being gifted them by her own father. There is a clause in Freddie’s will that mentions that he bequeaths to Mary Austin, all his possessions including those held by banks and third parties,” she says. 

Mary Austin was Freddie’s longtime partner, ex-fiancee and widely considered the love of his life. They remained close friends, living together until his demise. She has inherited a significant portion of his wealth.

In 2024, Queen sold their back catalogue and all their collective creative material to Sony Music for £1 billion. “It is possible that Sony Music owns the content of the notebooks. B has a lot of demos and recordings of songs he has sung but didn’t take to the studio to work on. It is also possible under the terms of their deal that Sony Music owns those as well,” Jones says.

B’s anonymity would effectively make Jones the face of this bombshell revelation, thus putting her at the receiving end of much trolling, criticism and damage to her reputation. Despite knowing all that, why did she want to write the book? “Like B, I wanted to set the record straight. I knew the backlash I was going to face but that cannot be more than what she has had to endure. I have tremendous admiration and respect for B,” Jones adds.

Reaction to the book

Jones explains that most of those who knew of B’s connection with Freddie are no longer around — her mother passed away early, as did Freddie’s former lover and close friend Joe Fanelli, ex-girlfriend Barbara Valentin, opera legend Montserrat Caballe, B’s nanny Maria and her stepfather. Mary Austin in an interview in August 2025 questioned the authenticity of the paternity claims, maintaining that neither had Freddie told her about a daughter nor had she seen him ever writing a journal. “B was devastated by Mary’s comments because she herself has been so complimentary towards Mary in the book. She has the highest regard for the dignity with which Mary has conducted her life all these years. We can’t understand why she would discredit something she knows to be true,” Jones says.

If she is speaking the truth and Freddie kept her in the dark, then the journal entries don’t add up. One wonders if Mary’s response has something to do with not giving B legitimacy to avoid throwing a spanner in the works as far as Freddie’s will goes. Whatever the reason may be, this new book and the polarising reactions to it only serve to highlight something that Freddie’slife exemplified: The world wasn’t ready for who Freddie Mercury/Bulsara was. In some way it still isn’t.

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