“The photo of me hugging Freddie while holding my hand on his chest was taken on July 13, 1988.

I was with friends outside his house when at a certain point he went out to reach the car that was waiting for him, together with Mary and Peter Straker.

I had with me a frame with a portrait that I had done of Freddie with Mary and Montserrat Caballé, so I called him ‘Freddie, I have a gift for you!’ He turned, stopped and waited while Mary and Peter got into the car.

I handed him the drawing and I almost forgot what to say when his beautiful eyes looked into mine! Believe me, those eyes were so much more beautiful and disturbing than ANY photo could show!! He waited for me to speak, but I had forgotten how to do it!! In the end I said ‘I did this for you!’ He took it and said ‘Oh lovely! Super! You have Mary there too!’ And he showed it to her through the car window and she smiled at me.

I then asked if I could take a picture with him and he replied ‘Sure!’ Then I asked Freddie ‘Do you mind if…?’ He raised his dark brows, his eyes twinkling with amusement as he replied ‘Ok.’ So I put my hand on his chest and my head on his shoulder.

I tried to describe how I felt in my ‘Tribute Fairytales Of Yesterday’ poems, but in reality the feeling was beyond words, it was beyond all things and too close to tears.

So the picture was taken and then my friends took a picture with him too. He got in the car with another ‘Thank you’ and I couldn’t stop the tears from pouring from my eyes as I waved at him.

At that point he turned to Mary who was sitting next to him to better show her the drawing and then she too returned my greeting.” (Helen, a fan)