Jilly Cooper, the British author of novels such as Rivals and Riders whose 1980s bestsellers were a blend of sex, satire and class-based snobbery, has died aged 88, her agent said in a statement on Monday.
Advertisement
Cooper, a long-standing friend of Britain’s Queen Camilla, sold 11 million copies of her books in Britain alone.
From the mid-1980s, her raunchy novels depicting the romantic adventures of an upper-class set of characters in the fictitious county of Rutshire, modelled on Gloucestershire where she and Camilla both lived, gained huge commercial success.
The queen called Cooper, a lifelong dog-lover who was a guest at her 2005 marriage to King Charles, a “wonderfully witty and compassionate friend”, in a statement issued by Buckingham Palace.
“Very few writers get to be a legend in their own lifetime but Jilly was one, creating a whole new genre of literature,” Camilla said. “May her hereafter be filled with impossibly handsome men and devoted dogs.”
Advertisement
Last year, Rivals found a new generation of fans when it was made into a series for Disney+. Sales of books published decades before shot up once again, as the themes of adultery and class rivalry thrilled younger audiences.