Freddie Mercury
A significant archive of c. 265 photographs and polaroids, mainly 1980s


FREDDIE MERCURY, HIMSELF

This remarkable assortment of photographs allows us unique access to Freddie’s private world. This is Freddie’s personal collection, his own record of his life. Most of the photos date from the mid-1980s, after Freddie had moved to Garden Lodge, and the vast majority were unseen in public until now. The collection documents Freddie’s life at Garden Lodge, as he celebrates birthdays and Christmases, tries on kimonos and poses with his cats. There are also numerous photographs of the special objects with which he surrounded himself. They show Garden Lodge as a place of playfulness, joy and beautiful things. 

Freddie loved birthday parties. His silly hat party for his 40th birthday is joyously recorded in these snapshots from the day, taken in the garden at Garden Lodge. See also lots 605 and 2251.

Freddie’s cat photoshoots form an important part of this collection. He is shown with his beloved felines including Delilah, Miko, Goliath and Oscar.

Cats, cats, cats, see lot 1502


Ding Dong Merrily on high: Christmas at Garden Lodge.

Christmas, 1986
Christmas, 1987, showing lots 608 , 626 , 676

Freddie and Jim Hutton took a holiday to Japan in September-October 1986. It was to be Freddie’s final visit to the country and it was a memorable occasion. Freddie went on a £250,000 shopping spree.

"Freddie could have gone on shopping all night, he loved everything Japanese so much he seemed to want to own everything in sight.”
Jim Hutton, Mercury & Me, Bloomsbury Publishing, 1994.

Freddie and Jim unpack their Japan haul at Garden Lodge.

Freddie in Ibiza. For his birthday in September, 1987, Freddie flew out hundreds of his friends to celebrate at Pike’s Hotel. The party has since become legend. See lot 605 for the invitation.


“I like to be surrounded by splendid things”
Freddie at Lalique in 1988 with Marie-Claude Lalique and the Lalique ‘Tanegra’ vase presented to him, lot 759
Freddie with the Adilson Santos painting, acquired while on tour in Brazil, lot 648
Freddie in the kitchen at Garden Lodge with Goliath, See lot 36 , 678 , 679 and 656
“Hello?” Goliath and the transparent telephone, lot 656
Delilah and Goliath on the chinoiserie table, lot 547


"The one thing I would really miss if I actually left Britain would be Sotheby's."
Delilah poses with a Sotheby’s sale tag

Freddie rocks out at an early Queen gig at Imperial College, autumn 1973.

Wearing the asymmetrical black and white satin two-piece, lot 37
Freddie beneath the autumn leaves in his brown leather jacket, lot 226


Kimono Party!
Freddie’s kimono collection can be found in lots 1137-1194


The Full English


“The most important thing is to live a fabulous life. As long as it’s fabulous I don’t care how long it is.”