Exclusive | How Freddie Mercury bonded with his ex-fiances new partner: This was the great love of his life

Freddie Mercury wrote “Love of My Life” — the ballad from Queen’s classic 1975 album “A Night at the Opera” — about Mary Austin, his girlfriend he met in 1969.And even after he came out as bisexual to his then-fiancée in the ’70s, ending their romantic relationship, the two retained their special, loving bond.In fact, Mercury remained extremely close to Austin even after she found another partner in bassist Jo Burt.“This was the great love of his life, in a sense,” Burt exclusively told The Post.“I think he was quite lucky because I was the kind of guy who appreciated the love they had between them.”Burt met Austin in 1981, five years after she had split up with Mercury.

“I’d been introduced to Mary, and she and I became partners for the next six years or so,” said Burt.Knowing Austin’s history with Mercury, Burt was “a bit nervous” about meeting the “Bohemian Rhapsody” singer.“Obviously, the initial introduction to him was pretty nerve-racking,” he said about meeting a “cautious” Mercury.“He was going to have to agree to somebody else taking over that part of his life.”But Mercury was won over by Burt, grateful that Austin had found a new love in her life.“He often said to me how pleased he was that she was happy and her life was expanding more than I think probably she expected,” said Burt.

“I never ever got between that friendship that they had.I understood it completely, and I think he appreciated that fact as well.”Indeed, Burt himself became “very close” with Mercury as a result of their mutual love for Austin, who was with the Queen frontman until the very end when he died from AIDS in 1991 and inherited most of his fortune.“I got to know Freddie really well, “ said Burt.

“I lived in the flat that he bought for [Austin], and I became very much part of his family.“The rest of the guys in Queen, they each had their own sort of family situations, which they pretty much retired to when th...