'It's so sad my friend Jilly's not here' Queen visits Rivals set

THE Queen met the cast and crew behind the dramatisation of her late friend Dame Jilly Cooper's bestseller Rivals, expressing sadness that a woman who meant so much to her was not there.

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During a behind-the-scenes tour of Bottleyard Studios in Bristol yesterday Camilla met those making the second series of the award-winning drama for Disney+.

Dame Jilly was an executive producer and the visit to the studio in Hengrove had been organised before her death in October.

Speaking with Dame Jilly's son, Felix Cooper, and daughter Emily Tarrant, the Queen expressed her sadness and said: "She was such a big part of my life for such a long time.

"We all miss her so much."

She also told show writer and producer Dominic Treadwell-Collins, who was also a good friend of Dame Jilly: "It's so sad she's not here."

Rivals is set in the 1980s, against the backdrop of the Cotswolds countryside, and follows the highstakes world of British television as careers, marriages and reputations hang by a thread when professional and personal lives collide.

Among the cast who were introduced to the Queen were David Tennant, Victoria Smurfit, Alex Hassell, Bella Maclean and Nafessa Williams, who all sat down for a cup of tea and slice of fruit cake in the O'Hara kitchen.

Reminiscing about Dame Jilly, Hassell recalled: "She would tell all the men here that they were sexy every time she came."

The Queen replied: "It's very nice. It boosts your confidence."

Smurfit asked Camilla whether she used to read all of her friend's novels when they were first published.