24-04-2025
Freddie Mercury's sister forked out R75m to buy her brother's possessions at auction
The younger sister of Queen's Freddie Mercury, Kashmira Bulsara, spent £3 million (R74,5m) to keep her brother's belongings out of the hands of strangers.
Freddie's confidante and former fiancée, Mary Austin (74), who received the lion's share of his estate after his death at 45 in 1991, provided 1 400 items that had belonged to the Queen frontman for auction by Sotheby's in 2023.
'Of course Kashmira appreciates how adored Freddie was across the world, but she was saddened to think of some of his sentimental belongings not being with his loved ones,' a source told The Sun.
The auction, titled Freddie Mercury: A World of His Own, closed with sales of £40m, far higher than the expected £11m.
It drew more than 140 000 visitors and buyers from more than 50 countries. Items for sale included handwritten lyrics and some of Freddie's famous stage costumes, as well as his moustache comb, champagne bottles from his cellar and paintings that once adorned his home including works by Salvador Dali and Pablo Picasso.
READ MORE | SEE THE PICS: Freddie Mercury's 'glorious memory box' home is up for sale
Kashimira (73), a businesswoman and philanthropist, successfully bid on her big brother's Wurlitzer model 850 jukebox which had been in his home, a hand-painted waistcoat featuring portraits of his cats, a military-style jacket designed for his 39th birthday and the draft lyrics of Queen's 1974 classic Killer Queen.
While Kashmira spent more than she'd anticipated at the auction, she was happy with the belongings she'd bought, the source said.
Freddie and Mary met in 1969 and dated for several years until they were engaged in 1973. They broke off their engagement in 1976 after he came out as gay, but remained close friends until his death.
'The only friend I've got is Mary, and I don't want anybody else. To me, she was my common-law wife. To me, it was a marriage. We believe in each other; that's enough for me,' Freddie said in an interview.
Most of his estate, including his Kensington mansion, was left to Mary.
Kashmira was also at Freddie's side in his last days, along with Freddie's longtime partner, Jim Hutton, who passed away in 2010.
Kashmira isn't the first relative of a celebrity to buy their possessions at auction.
Julian Lennon, son of late Beatles star John and his first wife, Cynthia, claimed in a 1999 interview that he had to buy back his father's letters and postcards – as well as ones Julian had sent him – after John's second wife, Yoko Ono, reportedly refused to give them to him.
