Freddie Mercury's silver Rolls-Royce auction will benefit Ukrainian war victims

Freddie Mercury, Queen’s exuberant front man, had a penchant for very expensive, very lux cars; a Lincoln, a Daimler, and his favorite, a 1974 Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow. The limousine, which chauffeured Mercury until his death in 1991 (he had no driverÂ’s license), is now on its way to a higher calling: ItÂ’s to be sold off next month at RM Sotheby's London auction, with proceeds going to the Superhumans Center, a charity supported by Richard Branson and others to provide aid for war victims in Ukraine and to fund construction of a hospital in Lviv.

According to the Hagerty automotive site, MercuryÂ’s sister Kashmira drove the car for a time after her brotherÂ’s death. With 62,000 miles on the clock, it was eventually put up for auction in Britain and sold in 2013 and fetched GBP74,600, the equivalent of GBP131,098 (about $146,000) today.

The car is painted a color called Silver Chalice and has a blue interior. It is powered by a V8 motor. The sedan’s memory was kept alive in the Queen biopic, “Bohemian Rhapsody.” At the beginning of the film, the rocker is being delivered to the Live Aid concert in a silver Rolls (not Mercury’s original, presumably). In other Queen-related news of note, band members Brian May and Roger Taylor authorized the release Thursday of a newly-discover song, “Face It Alone,” originally recorded in the 1980s. It was targeted for inclusion on “The Miracle,” Queen’s 13^th studio album, but didn’t make the final release.

The song was discovered by a team assembling an upcoming eight-disc Queen box set. “We’d kind of forgotten about this track,” Taylor said in a statement. “But there it was, this little gem. It’s wonderful, a real discovery. It’s a very passionate piece.”

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By Stephen Williams