Tributes to Dame Jilly

THE Queen has paid tribute to the author Dame Jilly Cooper who has died at the age of 88, describing her as a “legend” and a “wonderfully witty and compassionate friend to me and so many”.

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Jilly Cooper has died aged 88

The writer - known for her “bonkbusters” including Riders, Rivals and Polo - died unexpectedly on Sunday morning after a fall, with her children Felix and Emily saying it had come as a “complete shock”.

Camilla said she hoped Dame Jilly’s “hereafter” would be “filled with impossibly handsome men and devoted dogs”.

Dame Jilly was a longstanding friend of Camilla, and the author based her fictional seducer and showjumping lothario Rupert Campbell-Black partly on the Queen’s ex-husband Andrew Parker Bowles.