Queen pays tribute to 'legend' and 'compassionate friend' 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, PA

Jilly Cooper, who died unexpectedly on Sunday morning

(Laura Elston and Laura Harding, PA)

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.

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.

"I join my husband the King in sending our thoughts and sympathies to all her family. And may her hereafter be filled with impossibly handsome men and devoted dogs." The message was signed "Camilla R".