Every moment spent with her was bloody marvellous

HER gap-toothed smile was as mischievous as the saucy plots devoured by millions of fans who loved to guffaw as well as ooh and ahh at the scandalous goings-on of Rutshire's country set.

- MARK JEFFERIES

Somehow it seems so fitting that Queen Camilla led tributes to the queen of bonkbusters, Jilly Cooper, who was still writing up until her death at 88 - her work ethic as strong as the jodphur-clad muscles of her most roguish leading man, Rupert Campbell-Black.

Only last year she won over a legion of new devotees after devilish Rupert was brought back to life in Disney+ hit Rivals, viewers seduced afresh by the rudeness but also the warmth, wit and heart of her storytelling, The show's executive producers summed up the affection in which she was held as they described their experience of working with her.

Dominic Treadwell-Collins and Alex Lamb said: "Crawling around on her sitting room floor with storylines on pieces of paper, sitting up late at her kitchen table holding hands with love and our tummies with laughter.

"Receiving scoldings and heaps of wisdom in equal measure, watching her eyes sparkling as she sat on set watching Rutshire brought to lifeevery moment spent with Jilly Cooper was bloody marvellous Her famous series of 11 books set in fictional Rutshire, which began with Riders in 1985, and recently Mount! in 2016 and Tackle! in 2023, follows the power games and passions of the county's upper classes.

Dame Jilly even acknowledged she based her showjumping lothario Rupert, played by Alex Hassell in the latest TV adaptation, partly on the Queen's ex-husband Andrew Parker Bowles.