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
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In an exclusive chat with Express Online, Peter revealed how much Freddie was always aware of his teeth.
This meant he never laughed freely in public.
Peter said: “If someone says the name Freddie Mercury I think of him at home with his friends laughing. I can still hear him.
“In public when he laughed he would cover his teeth with his lips or bring up his hand. But at home, he relaxed. He let us see the real him. “
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#HappyThanksgiving. “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.” -Peter Freestone . P.S. Don’t you just love it when Freddie’s whole face brightens up with his own brand of contagious laughter all natural and genuinely happy like that?.Freddie & Joe Fanelli cooking a turkey at Garden Lodge in 1989 . #FreddieMercury #Thanksgiving
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Although Freddie always loved to celebrate with friends, Peter said he usually left the hard work to others and then came in at the last minute to add the finishing touches – and perhaps take credit.
Peter said: “Friends would come to lunch and a slightly different Freddie Mercury would appear. It was more the real fun person that you would see outside the door but he would put on a matching tracksuit.
“He would check the dining room table which was laid, but he might move a glass or fork an inch and say, ‘Darling, I Iaid the table.’ He loved entertaining friends.”
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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.
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