Dame Jilly Cooper, the celebrated author who redefined popular fiction in Britain, has died at the age of 88 after a fall at her home over the weekend, her family announced on Monday morning. The news of her passing sent ripples through the literary world and beyond, with tributes pouring in from royalty, fellow writers, and legions of devoted readers.
Her children, Felix and Emily, shared the heartbreaking news in a statement, describing their mother as “the shining light in all of our lives.” They added, “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.”
Queen Camilla, a longtime friend and admirer, led the tributes with a moving message. “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,” the Queen said in a statement, as reported by BBC and Daily Mail. “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 Queen and Dame Jilly’s friendship spanned decades, with their most recent meeting taking place in September at the Queen’s Reading Room Festival at Chatsworth House in Derbyshire. The charity, launched by Queen Camilla in 2023, celebrates the transformative power of books and storytelling, and Dame Jilly was among the star guests at the event. There, the two reminisced about their shared love of literature and the recent Disney+ adaptation of Cooper’s novel Rivals, which introduced her work to a new generation of fans.
Known affectionately as the “queen of the bonkbuster,” Dame Jilly Cooper’s novels chronicled the scandals, passions, and social circles of Britain’s horse-loving upper crust. Her most famous series, The Rutshire Chronicles, featured the unforgettable lothario Rupert Campbell-Black—a character reportedly inspired in part by the Queen’s ex-husband, Andrew Parker Bowles. The novels’ blend of wit, romance, and sharp social observation won her a devoted following and, as her publisher Bill Scott-Kerr put it, “changed the course of popular fiction forever.”
Scott-Kerr paid tribute, saying, “Working with Jilly Cooper over the past thirty years has been one of the great privileges and joys of my publishing life. Beyond her genius as a novelist, she was always a personal heroine of mine for so many other reasons. For her kindness and friendship, for her humour and irrepressible enthusiasm, for her curiosity, for her courage, and for her profound love of animals. Jilly may have worn her influence lightly but she was a true trailblazer.”
From her earliest days as a reporter on The Middlesex Independent at age 20, to her witty and candid columns for The Sunday Times in the 1960s, Cooper’s voice was always distinctive and fearless. She tackled topics like marriage, sex, and the everyday struggles of domestic life with a candor that was ahead of its time. Her pivot to fiction in the 1970s eventually led to her breakout success with Riders in 1985, the first of the Rutshire novels, which was followed by ten more instalments over the decades.
Felicity Blunt, Cooper’s literary agent, captured the author’s enduring appeal: “You wouldn't expect books categorised as bonkbusters to have so emphatically stood the test of time, but Jilly wrote with acuity and insight about all things—class, sex, marriage, rivalry, grief and fertility. She wrote, she said, simply 'to add to the sum of human happiness.'” Blunt added, “Emotionally intelligent, fantastically generous, sharply observant and utter fun, Jilly Cooper will be deeply missed by all at Curtis Brown and on the set of Rivals.”
Her work was not only a publishing phenomenon but also a cultural touchstone. Riders and its sequels inspired television adaptations, with the latest Disney+ series of Rivals bringing her ribald, rollicking world to a new audience. Victoria Smurfit, who starred in the adaptation, described Cooper as a “divine queen,” saying, “Her words will live forever but the way she made you feel, when in her company, was human sunshine. Jilly was everything that was good about being a person. Paddington bear with a naughty twinkle. All love to her beautiful and loving family and friends. Will miss that Dame so much.”
Cooper’s influence extended well beyond her fiction. She was awarded the inaugural Comedy Women in Print lifetime achievement award in 2019 and was made a Dame in 2024 for her services to literature and charity. Her generosity, sharp wit, and boundless enthusiasm made her a beloved figure in literary circles and among her countless readers.
Her publisher, reflecting on her legacy, noted, “With a winning combination of glorious storytelling, wicked social commentary and deft, lacerating characterisation, she dissected the behaviour, bad mostly, of the English upper middle classes with the sharpest of scalpels. It is no exaggeration to say that Riders, her first Rutshire Chronicle, changed the course of popular fiction forever.”
Jilly Cooper’s personal life was as rich and full as the worlds she created. Born in Hornchurch, Essex, in 1937, she grew up in Yorkshire and attended the private Godolphin School in Salisbury. Her father was a brigadier, and her family moved to London in the 1950s. She married Leo Cooper, who died in 2013, and together they built a life filled with books, animals, and laughter in Gloucestershire—a place that often inspired her fiction.
Even in her later years, Cooper remained prolific. A new book, How To Survive Christmas, described as “an irreverent and witty guide to surviving the festive season,” is due for publication in November 2025 through Transworld. Her agent confirmed that her funeral will be private, in accordance with her wishes, but a public service of thanksgiving will be held at Southwark Cathedral in the coming months to celebrate her extraordinary life and work.
For those wishing to remember Dame Jilly Cooper, the BBC Arts documentary In My Own Words—featuring personal archive and interviews with the author—is available now on iPlayer and will be repeated on BBC 2 tonight at 23:00 BST.
As tributes continue to flow, one thing remains clear: Jilly Cooper’s wit, warmth, and trailblazing spirit have left an indelible mark on British culture, her words destined to “add to the sum of human happiness” for generations to come.
