Freddie Mercury was one of the most unique and enigmatic frontmen of all time. His presence on the stage has never been matched and probably never will be. He with his band, Queen, had an iconic performance at Live Aid in 1985 and is regarded as arguably one of the best of all time. He was equally legendary off the stage as he was on stage. Some of the wild stories of his 36th birthday party in 1981 are the stuff of legend. He was the life of any party he went to.
There is one story, however, that is surreal, so much so that it’s still unsure whether it’s true or not. It includes the royal family, comedians, dressing in drag, and of course Freddie Mercury. So, as it’s the anniversary of the frontman’s death it’s a good time to retell the rumoured tale. There isn’t even an exact date as to when it happened. This week The Beat Marches On to sometime in 1988 we think, when Freddie Mercury sneaks Princess Diana into a gay bar.
The tale sounds like the start of a joke, a princess, a singer, a comedian, and an actor walk into a bar. The Princess Diana, who at the time was married to the then Prince of Wales, now King Charles III, the singer was Freddie Mercury, the lead singer of Queen, the comedian was Kenny Everett who had his own show and the actor Cleo Rocos who was Everett’s co-star.
It was Rocos’ account in her book, 2013’s The Power of Positive Drinking when the story was first mentioned. No one else has ever mentioned anything about the story. Granted that three-quarters of the group have passed on, but we didn’t hear anything about this until 15 years later.
It starts in an apartment in London with no mention of whose apartment. The foursome were sitting in the front room watching the classic sitcom The Golden Girls while drinking champagne. The TV was muted so they could add their own ‘naughty’ dialogue, rather than the more family-friendly dialogue.
Once the drinks had run out, or the episodes had finished, they wanted to carry on the party to another venue. Their place of choice was to go to a famous gay cabaret bar, the Royal Vauxhall Tavern. For Everett, Mercury, and Rocos it was fine for them to go out galivanting but for the princess though it was more difficult to just go out and let your hair down.
At the time Diana was one of the most recognised women in the world. Part of the UK’s most important family, she graced the front of the tabloids regularly and the paparazzi would follow her wherever she would go. The constant harassment of Diana by the press ultimately led to her death in a car crash in 1997.
Recent times for the royal couple were strained as Charles had rekindled his relationship with Camilla Parker-Bowles and Diana had sought solace with James Hewitt, her riding instructor.
This particular night, though the Princess decided she wanted to go out with the others and was in full ‘mischief mode’ Mercury egged them on by saying ‘Let the girl have some fun’ However there was a problem. How do you get one of the world’s most famous faces in the country, if not the world into a pub in London without grabbing any attention?
The answer, of course, is to dress her up like a man. The trio went looking for manly clothes to dress up the princess in to hide her appearance. The result they came up with, and remember this is 1980’s fashion, was a bomber jacket, baseball cap and sunglasses. Most likely inspired by an episode of the sitcom they were watching, but they were ready to see if the makeover would work.
They passed the first test when they bypassed the paparazzi waiting outside the building. The major test was yet to come when they entered the gay bar. Would anyone notice?
The group entered the bar, remember people would notice them as they entered as you have a singer of one of the country’s most successful bands, plus two prime-time TV personalities, as they did, but no one noticed the quiet ‘man’ in the baseball cap and sunglasses. They grabbed a seat and thought it was only right for Diana to get the first round. This was the ultimate test.
Freddie and Diana went up to the bar and ordered some beers and white wine for the group. All the while the two were giggling, making it obvious that something was going on. Again no one said anything throughout the order. Miraculously they had got away with it, however, the guilt was too much, and they only stayed in the tavern for twenty minutes until they called it a night.
That is how Rocos’ story allegedly goes in her autobiography. She mentions many instances where the group have met before. Still, there are some detractors of the story, the most damning of which comes from Mercury’s PA and close friend Peter Freestone who has said in previous interviews that the singer had never met Princess Diana.
The story was dramatized in the Sky Arts show Urban Myths in 2019, but it’s so overdramatized that it puts the story into disrepute, almost bringing it into fan fiction. It’s not that we don’t want the stunt to be true, it’s more that the more we think about it, the more we believe how possible it is or isn’t to do. London in the 1980s was a lot different to how it is now. There was less CCTV, the quality of the cameras used wasn’t as good, no social media, fewer photos were taken, and no 24-hour news media.
I don’t want to put a damper on the story as it’s a great one, and the characters involved make it even better, but when we look back in the past we only look at the good times. We look with rose-tinted glasses of fun that the one per cent had and not the doom and gloom that the other 99 per cent put up with. Do I want this to be true? Of course. Is it true though? I can only say maybe, as only one of the foursomes has ever talked about it, and as the other three are no longer with us, we will never know.
The Beat Marches On is a music blog written by Jimmy Whitehead. Jimmy has been blogging for eight years specialising in Sports (especially American Football). If you want to follow Jimmy on Twitter: @Jimmy_W1987
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