A legend and a friend – Queen in tribute to 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”.

- LAURA ELSTON AND LAURA HARDING

Queen Camilla and Dame Jilly Cooper in March

(Chris Jackson/Getty Images)

The writer known for her “bonk-busters” 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, who lived in Bisley in Gloucestershire, 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.

The Queen, who is a passionate supporter of literacy charities and set up her own Instagram Reading Room book group, said in a message released by Buckingham Palace: “I was so saddened to learn of Dame Jilly's death last night.

“Very few writers get to be a legend in their own lifetime but Jilly was one, creating a whole new genre of literature and making it her own through a career that spanned over five decades.

“In person she was a wonderfully witty and compassionate friend to me and so many - and it was a particular pleasure to see her just a few weeks ago at my Queen’s Reading Room Festival where she was, as ever, a star of the show.