Freddie Mercury’s Sister Buys Queen Memorabilia for £3 Million
Freddie Mercury’s furious sister, Kashmira Bulsara, secretly spent £3 million to snap up the Queen singer’s memorabilia after it was put up for auction by his ex-girlfriend, Mary Austin. According to a report in The Sun, Kashmira was said to be devastated to see the Queen hero’s belongings being flogged and was prepared to pay over the odds to keep them in the family.
The Sun reports that Kashmira, 73, bought several important items belonging to Freddie, including a Wurlitzer Model 850 jukebox for £406,400, and a waistcoat with portraits of Freddie’s six cats on which went for £139,700. The waistcoat had been worn by Freddie in the music video for Queen’s These Are The Days Of Our Lives, filmed six months before his AIDS-related death in 1991, aged 45. A military-style jacket made for Freddie’s 39th birthday was Kashmira’s most expensive purchase, at £457,200.
The Sun understands that Kashmira did not want Mary to know that it was her bidding for them at auction house Sotheby’s, so she and her son Jamal Zook did it all anonymously. A source told The Sun: “Kashmira was angry and upset to see so many of her beloved brother’s possessions become available for anyone to buy. So she went for a private viewing, anonymously, with Jamal and her PA before the auction to see which bits she wanted to try to get.” The source added that Kashmira watched online and told her PA how much to bid for each item.
Mary Austin sold 1,406 lots for a total of £40 million in 2023, with the total estimate prior to the sale being up to £11.3 million. The Sun reports that some 140,000 visitors attended a pre-sales exhibition, with 41,800 bids across six sessions and buyers from more than 50 different countries. Mary donated some of the proceeds to the Mercury Phoenix Trust, an AIDS charity set up by Freddie’s Queen bandmates and their manager Jim Beach, and the Elton John AIDS Foundation.
The Sun notes that Freddie had dated Mary from 1969 until the late 1970s, and the couple were engaged for a time. He wrote Queen’s 1975 song Love Of My Life as a tribute to her. Their relationship ended after Freddie eventually came out to her as gay, but they remained close friends until his death. Freddie left Mary half of his estate in his will, as well as his Garden Lodge mansion in Kensington, West London, which she also put on the market last year for £30 million.
A representative for Kashmira said they had no comment to make on the auction, while Mary could not be reached for comment. The auction house, Sotheby’s, said: “Sotheby’s does not, as a matter of policy, comment on its clients or their purchases without express permission from those involved.” Freddie Mercury’s sister Kashmira felt the items should stay in the family and has now bought several of his personal belongings.
Freddie Mercury left an estimated £75 million to loved ones when he died in 1991, aged 45. Half his estate went to former fiancée Mary Austin, along with his West London mansion in which they had lived. Another 25 per cent went to parents Bomi and Jer Bulsara – but that too passed to Mary after their deaths in 2003 and 2016 respectively. The remaining 25 per cent was left to Freddie’s sister Kashmira.
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