Queen Camilla breaks silence on 'friend' Jilly Cooper's death with cheeky statement

The Queen has paid tribute to the author Dame Jilly Cooper who has died at the age of 88, as she hoped her 'hereafter would be filled with impossibly handsome men and devoted dogs.”

The writer died unexpectedly on Sunday morning after a fall, with her children Felix and Emily saying it had come as a “complete shock”.

Dame Jilly was a long-standing 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 two women had been pictured together just weeks before Dame Jilly's shock death.

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Camilla 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”.

Dame Jilly was known for her steamy fiction focusing on scandal and adultery in upper class society.

Her hit titles included Riders, Rivals, Polo, Mount! and The Man Who Made Husbands Jealous, along with her most recent work Tackle!

Her children Felix and Emily said in a statement: “Mum was the shining light in all of our lives. Her love for all of her family and friends knew no bounds.

“Her unexpected death has come as a complete shock. We are so proud of everything she achieved in her life and can’t begin to imagine life without her infectious smile and laughter all around us.”

The executive producers of the Disney+ adaptation of Dame Jilly’s novel Rivals have said they are “broken-hearted” at the news of her death.

Dominic Treadwell-Collins and Alex Lamb said: “We are broken-hearted. Jilly was and always will be one of the world’s greatest storytellers, and it has been the most incredible honour to have been able to work with her to adapt her incredible novels for television.

“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 behind the monitor on set watching Rutshire brought to life – every moment spent with Jilly Cooper was bloody marvellous.

“We have been so lucky to be able to call her our friend – and know that her legacy will endure in her writing, her television and the encouragement to have fun that she gave us all.”

The pair act as executive producers on the hit series which is produced by Happy Prince.