Adam Goldsmith
Live reporter

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Author Dame Jilly Cooper has been remembered as a "legend" by Queen Camilla, after the writer's death at the age of 88 was announced by her children this morning.

"Mum was the shining light in all of our lives," Cooper's children Felix and Emily wrote, as they shared the news that the author died after a fall at the weekend.

Renowned as the queen of the so-called "bonkbuster", Cooper's novels often portrayed the scandals, sex lives and social circles of the wealthy horse-loving country set.

The Dame's fabled Rutshire Chronicles, which featured lothario Rupert Campbell-Black, had even found a new audience after novel Rivals became a hit Disney+ series when it was adapted for the screen last year.

Cooper's agent Felicity Blunt said: "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'."

That brings our live coverage to an end here, but you can read our news story for a full obituary.

The BBC Arts documentary In My Own Words - which features personal archive and interviews with Cooper is also available now on iPlayer, and will be repeated on BBC 2 at 23:00 BST tonight.

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Over the last few hours, we've been following tributes that have poured in following the death of best-selling novelist Dame Jilly Cooper.

Known as a literary trailblazer and credited with championing the British bonkbuster market, Cooper's unexpected death has prompted celebrities, the government and the Royal family alike to pay their respects.

• Her family called her the "shining light" in all their lives, mentioning her "infectious smile and laughter"
• The Queen said she was "saddened" to learn of her death as she wished Cooper a hereafter "filled with impossibly handsome men and devoted dogs"
• The prime minister's spokesperson paid tribute to her "wit, warmth and wisdom"
• "Luckily for us that brilliant brain has left us so much to enjoy," TV presenter Claire Balding wrote on social media
• Cooper's agent and publisher have also issued statements saying they had "the most immense fun" and calling her a "true trailblazer" respectively
• Publishing house Penguin - who published her novels - said she has been an "inspiration to a generation of women, writers and more"

Watch below as Richard Madeley recalls how Jilly Cooper’s parties were “just like something out of her books,” and what did she say to every man she knew?

“Almost the first job I had as an actress was in Jilly Cooper’s BBC sitcom”, remembers Joanna Lumley describing the show It’s Awfully Bad for Your Eyes, Darling about four girls sharing a flat in London.

“Despite having a completely humourless director it was an exciting new show to be in; and Jilly was there every day, encouraging and admiring us, and suggesting comic touches to the indifferent staging and direction”, Lumley tells BBC News.

“She was at the forefront of young British writers in the early seventies, and I was only a nobody at the very beginning of my life as an actress, but we never lost touch”, she says.

Describing her friend, Lumley says: “She was entirely generous, hugely talented, prolific, enthusiastic, meticulous and wholly loveable: a darling friend and a brilliant person. She will be missed and mourned by millions, not least by me. I adored her.'

Image source, Facebook/Forest Green Rovers

Tackle!, Jilly Cooper's final novel - and the eleventh in the Rutshire Chronicles series featuring famed lothario Rupert Campbell-Black - had an unlikely source of inspiration.

Swapping manicured polo lawns for football terraces, Cooper drew inspiration from her local club Forest Green Rovers for her only novel dedicated to the beautiful game.

Released in 2023, 'Tackle!' follows fictional club Searston Rovers in their journey towards England's top-tier, and Cooper drew on her experiences of supporting the world's first vegan football club when writing her final novel.

"They were so friendly and asked me to matches, and gave me delicious vegetarian food which I've become quite fond of," she said of her visits to the New Lawn Stadium.

Former BBC Radio Gloucestershire presenter Mark Cummings says Cooper once confessed "how much she fancied Dale Vince", the club's owner - as well as a couple of the team's strikers at the time.

And Cooper even saw her local team promoted into the English Football League for the first time in their history in 2017, beating Tranmere Rovers 3-1 at Wembley in the National League playoff final.

Image source, BBC / Swan Films / Paul Groom

Just last year - and in fine fettle as an 87-year-old - Dame Jilly Cooper appeared in BBC Arts documentary In My Own Words.

During the 45-minute episode, Cooper chronicles her own life story, describing how her writing career spawned from a Sunday Times column before she was poached by a publisher for a book deal.

Told in her own words, and with access to her personal archive, there's also more on her life and work, from her childhood in Yorkshire, where her love of horses, dogs and devilishly handsome men were all forged.

You can find the episode of In My Own Words on BBC iPlayer now, or tune in to BBC Two at 23:00 tonight.

Noor Nanji
Culture reporter

Jilly Cooper made a lasting impression on millions of readers, but she also inspired a number of authors too.

On X, novelist Jill Mansell writes that she’s “pretty sure" she never would’ve become a published novelist, external if it wasn’t for Dame Jilly.

“[Her] brilliant works inspired me to want to write and brought endless happiness to millions of readers. She was completely fabulous,” she says.

Jilly Cooper superfan Daisy Buchanan, who wrote books including Insatiable and Limelight, tells BBC Culture that she first discovered the writer as a teenager.

"I think I was about 13 when I fell in love with Jilly's books," she says.

"Riders and Rivals were being passed around at school, almost 20 years after they were first published, which is a testament to her power.”

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On the morning of 5 October 1999, a Thames Trains service to Bedwyn in Wiltshire collided with a Great Western high-speed train from Cheltenham to London.

Thirty-one people were killed, and another 417 were injured. Also on board was author Jilly Cooper, who was on her way to a meeting at the Ritz.

Cooper escaped from her derailed carriage by crawling through a window before heading to her meeting, and she later recalled: "I saw this bright orange flash and thought this is it, my number has come up".

It was later found that the crash - which was one of the worst accidents in British transport history - had been caused by one of the trains drivers having passed a red signal.

"She was poking fun at the world and she knew exactly what she was doing," Jilly Cooper's agent Felicity Blunt tells the World at One on BBC Radio 4.

Blunt explains that some of the reviews of Cooper's early novels were "incredibly dismissive" when they were first published, but says that “what has been so thrilling and lovely is to watch how that opinion has evolved”.

"Jilly will endure and go on,” she continues. “She was clever and sharp and observant - and as skilled as Jane Austen in satirising her characters and [their] lives.”

Blunt says she "couldn't resist a pun or an innuendo" when they were working together, describing it as "the most immense fun".

You can listen to the full interview.

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Penguin Books UK, who published Cooper's books, calls Cooper an "inspiration to a generation of women, writers and more".

In a post on X, the publishing house writes: "Thank you, Jilly, for the immense amount of fun and joy you brought to us all. The world is a drabber, less gorgeous place without you.⁠"

Noor Nanji
Culture reporter

She found success in the 1980s, with many of her loyal fans today reminiscing over how her books were a huge part of their adolescence.

But Dame Jilly won over a whole new, younger fanbase recently.

The massive success of the TV series Rivals, starring A-listers such as David Tennant and Danny Dyer, introduced her work to a new generation.

And social media, particularly platforms like TikTok with hashtags like #spicybooks, also played a part in driving a new wave of interest in Dame Jilly’s raunchy novels.

It’s this mix of older and newer fans that will be mourning her loss today.

Image source, BBC/Swan Films/Benjamin Furman

Clare Balding, TV presenter and fellow animal lover, says she is "so sorry that Jilly has left the party."

A common theme of Cooper's books was horse-owning upper-class characters, but she also wrote the non-fiction work Animals in War, which examined the use of animals in conflicts, published in 1983.

"She was never happier than [when] surrounded by dogs and horses and she loved people of all ages," Balding writes on social media.

"Luckily for us that brilliant brain has left us so much to enjoy."

The official spokesman for Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has praised Jilly Cooper's contribution to British culture and the delight she inspired.

"Dame Jilly Cooper was a literary force whose wit, warmth and wisdom shaped British culture for over half a century and brought joy to millions," he says.

Image source, BBC/Swan Films/Benjamin Furman

Back in 2016, Jilly Cooper was a guest on BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs.

There, she was given the chance to pick her eight favourite songs, along with a book and a luxury item that she would take with her to a desert island.

For the songs, she picked Can't Help Falling in Love by Elvis Presley and Bob Marley's Buffalo Soldier, among others.

You can listen back to the full interview with Kirsty Young here, to learn more about how she conquered the bonkbuster market.

After leaving London Jilly Cooper made Gloucestershire her home, and former BBC Radio Gloucestershire presenter Mark Cummings has been paying tribute to the author.

“When you think of Jilly you just think of her naughtiness,” the presenter remembers, adding that he knew he would also be forced to apologise for her outrageous comments while on air.

“She’ll say something that will get us into trouble, but it doesn’t matter because it will be worth it,” Cummings explains. “She was twinkly, and sparkly and naughty.”

Cummings says he would often see her near her house in Bisley, describing how he and the “unpretentious” author bonded over their shared love of lurcher rescue dogs.

The Queen and Jilly Cooper were long-standing friends, attending several functions and events together.

Cooper even based her character Rupert Campbell-Black - seducer and showjumping lothario - partly on the Queen's ex-husband, Andrew Parker Bowles.

As you can see in our previous post, the Queen says: "Very few writers get to be a legend in their own lifetime but Jilly was one... may her hereafter be filled with impossibly handsome men and devoted dogs."

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Image source, Getty Images

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The Queen has released the following statement following the death of Jilly Cooper.

"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."

Image source, Getty Images

Jilly Cooper’s funeral will be a private, family occasion, her agent says.

But a public service of thanksgiving will be held at Southwark Cathedral in London at some point in the next few months.

An announcement on the arrangements for that will be made in due course.

"RIP Jilly Cooper,” writes Piers Morgan in tribute on X.

“Such a fabulously fun, mischievous, warm-hearted lady,” he continues.

“If she was in a room, everyone would feel instantly cheerier. Very sad news."

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Last year, Jilly Cooper has described receiving a royal honour from the King as "orgasmic".

Named in the 2024 New Year's Honours list for services to literature and to charity - Cooper was honoured with the damehood by King Charles at Windsor Castle.

Speaking at the time, Cooper said: "Orgasmic. Just terribly exciting and nice.

"I never dreamed in a million years it would happen and it just has, so it's lovely.

"I think it's incredible, magical for me. I was thrilled to bits. Writers work so hard... We do work hard. Books are terribly important, they cheer people up."

You can read more in our story from the time.