A woman who claimed to be Freddie Mercury's secret daughter has died after a battle with a rare form of spinal cancer

B's widow - named only as Thomas - confirmed the sad news to the Daily Mail, telling the publication his wife died "peacefully after a long battle with chordoma, a rare spinal cancer, leaving two sons aged nine and seven ... B is now with her beloved and loving father in the world of thoughts. Her ashes were scattered to the wind over the Alps."

Writer Jones also expressed her devastation and revealed B had been battling cancer since childhood and she decided to finally tell her story about Freddie Mercury as she knew she was nearing the end of her life.

Jones told the publication: "I am devastated by the loss of this woman who became my close friend ...

"At the end of her life, it [telling her story] was all that mattered to her. She was very ill throughout the 4 years that we worked together. But she was on a mission. She put herself and her own needs last."

Jones added: "Her cancer reared originally when she was very young. It's the real reason why the family relocated quite frequently, so that they could access the best treatment at the time for chordoma: a rare form of spinal cancer that was always going to kill her.

"She had been in remission for some years when it reared again. That was when she decided to contact me ... We worked together for 4 years to get the book written and published - on borrowed time."

Jones added that B took her husband and two children on a "bucket list" trip to South America last year and started chemotherapy again shortly before the publication of the book in September.

She concluded by saying: "This news is shocking and deeply upsetting to me, but not surprising. I had known it was coming all along. It was a race against time.

"Against the odds, we achieved what at one time seemed impossible, given all that she was up against. It was the honour of my life to have been chosen by her to share Freddie's true story."

The book claimed B was fathered by Freddie following a fling with a friend's wife and her existence was kept a secret from everyone apart from the singer's closest friends and family. It was based volumes of diaries which were said to have been given to B by her father.

The Daily Mail reports Freddie - who died in 1991 - called her Bibi and wrote a number of songs about her including Bijou and Don't Try So Hard.

Jones told the publication B didn't want to go public with her identity because she was a doctor and she didn't want to compromise her patients' privacy. The family live in France and are now said to be considering releasing pictures of B - including snaps of her as a young woman with Freddie.

B's claims were previously dismissed by Freddie's close friend Mary Austin, who dec lared it would be "astonishing" if the singer had fathered a secret daughter without her knowledge.

Mary - who was close to the Queen star for two decades - told The Sunday Times newspaper: "Freddie had a glorious openness, and I cannot imagine he would have wanted to, or been able to, keep such a joyful event a secret, either from me or other people closest to him ...

"The truth is that I am simply not the guardian of such a secret. I've never known of any child, or of any diaries. If Freddie had indeed had a child without me knowing anything about it, that would be astonishing to me."

She also insisted she had never seen Freddie write a diary and she would be "very surprised" if the singer had started a journal in his later years.

B provided a response to Mary's statements through Jones, saying: "I am devastated by Mary Austin's alleged response. For 34 years, the truth of Freddie's life has been distorted, twisted and rewritten, but she said nothing ...

"Here, she has not yet read the book, yet she apparently makes this statement. I don't understand why ..."

In Love, Freddie, B admitted she struggled with the public mourning for the singer, who died of an AIDS-related illness when she was 15 years old.

An extract from the book stated: "I cried and mourned my Dad, while fans all around the world mourned Freddie.

"For 30 years I had to build my life and family without him and accept that he wouldn't be there to share the happy moments with us.

"For 30 years, while the rest of the world was reinterpreting Mercury's life, his music and all that he had been, I needed to have my dad just for me and my family. How could I have spoken before?"