The Queen has wished for an eternity of ‘impossibly handsome men’ for her friend, Dame Jilly Cooper, who has died at the age of 88.
In a very personal and fulsome tribute to the best selling author, Queen Camilla said she hoped her ”hereafter” would also contain devoted dogs.
The two were friends for many years and were last seen together at The Queen’s Reading Room Festival at Chatsworth House last month.
Dame Jilly died on October 5 2025 after a fall. Her two children, Felix and Emily, announced her death and called her the ” the shining light in all of our lives”. They said her loss had come as a ”complete shock” and added ”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 was among the first to pay tribute with a statement released soon after news of Dame Jilly’s death came through. In it, Her Majesty said ”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.”
The Queen said of her friend ”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.”
Her Majesty sent condolences to Dame Jilly’s family, saying ”“I join my husband The King in sending our thoughts and sympathies to all her family.”
However, it was her final words about Dame Jilly Cooper that really summed up their friendship. The Queen said ”may her hereafter be filled with impossibly handsome men and devoted dogs.”
Dame Jilly Cooper was born on February 21 1937 in Hornchurch in Essex and was educated at Godolphin before beginning a career as a journalist and writer. In 1969, she began a long running column in The Times about marriage which eventually tempted her into writing the novels which became her most famous work.
The most celebrated and talked about remain ‘The Rutshire Chronicles’ which include Rivals, Polo and Riders, all of them packed with larger than life characters and plenty of sex. They’ve become favourites for TV adaptations, too, with a recent version of Rivals on Disney+ winning big audiences and rave reviews.
Dame Jilly Cooper received her DBE in 2024 for services to literature and charity and described receiving the honour from The King as ”orgasmic”.
She married writer Leo Cooper in 1961 and they shared two children. He died in 2013.
Dame Jilly died at her home at Bisley in Gloucestershire just weeks after an appearance at The Queen’s Reading Room Festival. Following the announcement of her death, the organisation said ”The Queen’s Reading Room was incredibly lucky to share many delightful moments with Dame Jilly at Chatsworth recently, together with an audience of admiring and devoted fans. We send sympathies to her family, and to everyone who is mourning her passing. ”
