Freddie Mercury’s sister Kashmira Bulsara, 73, secretly spent millions to keep the Queen frontman's belongings in the family after they were put up for auction in September 2023 by his ex-girlfriend, and chief benefactor of his will, Mary Austin, 74. Kashmira spent £3million purchasing treasured memorabilia which belonged to the late star. She reportedly didn't want Mary to know it was her bidding for them at the auction in Sotheby’s so she and her son Jamal Zook did it anonymously.

“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. Then when it came to auction time, Kashmira’s PA went in-person to Sotheby’s and was on the phone to Kashmira throughout," a source told The Sun.

The source claimed Kashmira followed the proceedings online and instructed her PA how much to bid paying well over the estimated price for each item.

Items purchased by Kashmira included a Wurlitzer Model 850 jukebox for £406,400, and a waistcoat hand painted with portraits of Freddie’s six cats on which went for £139,700. Poignantly he wore this in the last ever video he made for the number one track Those Were The Days of Our Lives which was filmed just six months before he died in November 1991, aged 45.

A military-style jacket which was made for his 39th birthday was her most expensive purchase, at £457,200. The jacket also features in his video for Living on My Own, which was filmed at the party.

Other treasures secured by Kashmira were eight pages of draft lyrics for Queen’s 1974 hit Killer Queen which went for £279,400, a Daum Persimmons vase, which had been converted into a lamp with a tasselled shade made by Freddie, for £22,860, and a Nike sweatshirt which belonged to the star for £40,640.

Prior to the record breaking auction Mary told the BBC: “I need to put my affairs in order. The time has come for me to take the difficult decision to close this very special chapter in my life.

“I decided that it wouldn't be appropriate for me to keep things back. If I was going to sell, I had to be brave and sell the lot.”

In advance of the auction it was estimated it would make £6million in total, with some proceeds being donated to the Mercury Phoenix Trust and the Elton John Aids Foundation. Yet the final total surpassed this amount by almost sevenfold.

Following more than 41,800 bids, Freddie's personal effects made £40million in total, a new record for any collection of its kind. Almost 99 per cent of the lots sold for prices in excess of their high estimates with the Queen star’s Yamaha Grand Piano taking the most at £1.7million; a record for a composer’s piano.