The wonderful pictures were taken at Thanksgiving in the kitchen at home at One GardenLodge, West Kensington. Freddie appears beaming and brimming with joy. It’s hard to believe just three months later he would appear in public looking pale and frail. It was the moment the world knew something was seriously wrong.
According to the credit on the wonderful picture, it was taken at Thanksgiving 1989, which took place on November 23. Freddie can be seen laughing wildly, alongside his American friend Joe Fanelli.
Fanelli was a former boyfriend who moved into the London mansion as Freddie’s chef and lived there alongside Freddie’s PA Peter Freestone and partner Jim Hutton.
Even more extraordinary than seeing the star’s unabashed joy is the rare privilege of seeing the side of himself he always kept hidden in public.
SCROLL DOWN TO SEE THE WONDERFUL IMAGE OF FREDDIE AT HOME COOKING THANKSGIVING DINNER
READ MORE: Freddie Mercury’s courage: Final two days by the friend who was there
Peter said of their Thanksgiving dinners: “Generally Freddie would use any excuse to have a party.
“I remember a few times when there wasn’t a tour that Joe reminded Freddie about Thanksgiving and Freddie would lay on a traditional dinner for friends.
As Freddie was staunchly British, the celebration didn’t have the same gravitas as it does in USA, but he still enjoyed himself.”
Looking at Freddie so full of like and high spirits, it is difficult to believe it is the same man just months later.
On February 18, 1990, Queen went on stage at Earls Court in London at the BRITS Awards. The band was there to collect the Outstanding Contribution Award.
Freddie clearly did not seem his usual ebullient, charismatic and shamelessly, playfully attention-seeking self.
His health indeed had started to deteriorate. Within a year, he was seriously ill, desperately trying to record as much final music as possible at those extraordinary studio sessions in Montreux.
On November 24, 1991, he died in bed, surrounded by those dearest friends who had lived and loved with him in his beloved Kensington home.