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Credit: Raph Pour-Hashemi \/ Carl Lender<\/p>\n
Mon 5 October 2026 10:52, UK <\/p>\n
Queen\u2019s Brian May<\/a> has reflected on the loss of his late bandmate Freddie Mercury, who tragically died in 1991, aged 45.<\/p>\n Mercury kept his battle with HIV\/AIDS incredibly private, not even telling the rest of Queen until 1989, which was two years after he received his official diagnosis.<\/p>\n He ultimately only revealed that he\u2019d been diagnosed with HIV\/AIDS on November 23rd, 1991, and died just 24 hours later at his home in Kensington.<\/p>\n Now, in a new interview with The Times,<\/a> May has lifted the lid on their final performance as Queen, which famously took place at Knebworth Park<\/a> on August 9th, 1986, attracting a crowd of more than 120,000.<\/p>\n \u201cHe came off stage at Knebworth and said: \u2018I can\u2019t do this any more,\u2019\u200a\u201d May shared, before adding that he initially thought it was just hyperbole after a tiring tour, \u201cHe did have a tendency to be dramatic, so we thought Freddie was just being Freddie.\u201d<\/p>\n However, with the benefit of hindsight, May now views that five-word comment through a different lens entirely, admitting, \u201cBut I now realise he already knew the prognosis, which was grim.\u201d<\/p>\n The guitarist continued, \u201cI remember reading about young men dying in America, and then we saw Freddie with these strange symptoms, so we put two and two together. It\u2019s incredible that he carried on with such confidence and energy<\/a> to the very end.\u201d<\/p>\n In the same interview, Roger Taylor revealed that he was on his way to visit Mercury when he was told the devastating news that he\u2019d died, and shared of the impact it had on the group, \u201cIt really broke us up, and I don\u2019t think John Deacon\u00a0did\u00a0cope. He went to pieces. He didn\u2019t want to go on in the music industry after that.\u201d<\/p>\n Meanwhile, May conceded that he thought it would be over for Queen after Mercury\u2019s death, stating, \u201cWe always said that if any of us went, that was the end.\u201d<\/p>\n
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