A bit of Veronica Tetzlaff Deacon.
Sheffield-born of Polish ancestry, Veronica had studied at the Maria Assumpta Teacher Training College before starting work as a nanny.
When John was 20 (ca. 1971) he met trainee teacher, Veronica Tetzlaff, at a disco. Veronica shocked her parents when she fell pregnant in October 1974 with their first child. John Deacon and Veronica hastly married on January 18 1975 at a Carmelite church in Kensington Church street. Veronica’s family were members of this order of Catholicism, named after Mount Carmel in Palestine, and dedicated to a striclty orthodox application of the faith.
Nigel Bullen’s wife, Ruth, got to know her quite well through their husband’s friendship [Nigel played with john Deacon at The Opposition and was his bestman at his wedding] and said: “She didn’t wear any make-up and wore fairly plain clothes (…). She is a lovely person, completely unpretentious. I’ve got the impression down the years that their children are the most important things to her.” Ruth Bullen recalls Veronica’s response when, early in their marriage, John Deacon bought her a new mini car. “She was thrilled to bits with it. A lot would have bought something top of the range, but she did not come from money and was just happy to have a car.”
By 1982 Queen had already released their first Greatest Hits album and were cementing their reputation as the biggest British band since The Beatles. Much as he hated the attention, John was forced to live with it but it was having a damaging effect on his marriage and family life. Ruth says: ‘When he came back off a tour, he couldn’t revert to being an ordinary person, playing with the kids, taking them to the park and things,’ Veronica, a demure redhead, was hardly the archetypal rock star wife. 'She’s a normal, quiet, devout Catholic,’ says Ruth. 'She wasn’t into the glamorous life at all. It took her a few years to realise she could have practically anything she wanted. It was ages before she got a nanny to help with the children.’
They are living together since then in their four-bedroom house in Putney, South-West London, and they had 6 children: Robert John who was born on 18 July, 1975; Michael William, on 3 February, 1978; Laura Christina on 25 June, 1979; Joshua Luke (13th December, 1983); Luke James (born on 5 December, 1992) and Cameron Matthew (7th November, 1993).
