Queen Camilla and Rivals cast lead mourners at Dame Jilly Cooper’s memorial service

LONDON: Queen Camilla and a host of Rivals stars have joined close friends and family of Dame Jilly Cooper to celebrate her ‘extraordinary life’ at a memorial service in London.

The acclaimed author, who penned books including the best-selling Rivals, died unexpectedly aged 88 on October 5, with a statement released by her children Felix and Emily explaining they’d been left in ‘complete shock’.

Today, a service in the author’s honour is taking place at the Anglican Southwark Cathedral close to London Bridge.

Among those attending her memorial including actors from the series, including Danny Dyer, Alex Hassell, David Tennant, Bella Maclean and Katherine Parkinson.

The Queen was also welcomed by the Rev Dr Mark Oakley, Dean of Southwark.

Dame Jilly’s literary agent Felicity Blunt, sister of Emily, also joined the mourners as she walked into the cathedral with her actor husband Stanley Tucci carrying a tote bag that said ‘I love Jilly Cooper’.

An inquest into Cooper’s death revealed that she had died after sustaining injuries from a fall, following a a stunning literary career that enjoyed a revival following the Disney Plus series Rivals.

Gloucestershire Coroners’ Court heard that Cooper had initially been alert after her fall and was transferred by paramedics to Gloucestershire Royal Hospital.

However, her condition quickly deteriorated, and she died a day later surrounded by her family, as reported by The Sun.

Katy Skerrett, senior coroner for Gloucestershire, reached a conclusion of accidental death and said the author died as a result of a traumatic subdural haematoma.

‘The circumstances surrounding her tragic death were she had suffered an unwitnessed fall at her home address on October 4. She fell, perhaps down some stairs, sustaining a significant head injury,’ she explained.

‘There were no suspicious circumstances surrounding her fall. She passed away later, on October 5, with family present.

‘This is a case of accidental death, the accident being the unwitnessed fall by Dame Cooper at Dame Cooper’s address, triggering the tragic events that thereafter followed. May this office extend their sincere condolences to Dame Cooper’s family.’

At the time of her death, several stars offered tributes to the late author, with Emily Atack, who starred as Sarah Stratton on the hit show, thanking the writer for her ‘life-changing’ role in the show.

Alexander Hassell, who has played the series’ lead role of Rupert Campbell-Black, also posted a sweet image of himself kissing Jilly on the cheek.

He wrote: ‘So sad to have lost our wonderful Jilly. So incredibly grateful to have gotten to know her. This magical woman changed my life.’

Cooper was born in Hornchurch, Essex, in 1937, and had a career spanning more than half a century, during which time she sold more than 11 million books in the UK alone.

She began her career as a journalist in 1956, writing candid columns on love and social life, she wrote her first nonfiction book – How to Stay Married – in 1969.

Soon after, she moved into the world of fiction, chronicling the foibles of the English upper-middle classes.

Her 1975 debut, Emily, marked the start of a 50-year relationship with Transworld, during which she published eighteen novels and more than twenty works of non-fiction – including the famous Rutshire Chronicles.

When the news of her death broke, the author’s long-time agent Felicity Blunt described her as ‘a woman who has defined culture, writing and conversation since she was first published over fifty years ago’.

‘Jilly will undoubtedly be best remembered for her chart-topping Rutshire Chronicles and their havoc-making and handsome show-jumping hero Rupert Campbell-Black,’ she continued.

‘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. Her plots were both intricate and gutsy, spiked with sharp observations and wicked humour.’

In 2004, Cooper was appointed OBE in 2004 for services to literature, an honour that was upgraded in 2024 to full Damehood.

In recent years, she also served as an executive producer on the Disney Plus adaptation of her novel Rivals. Her most recent novel – Tackle! – was published in 2023.

She married Leo Cooper in 1961, a publisher of military history books, and they subsequently adopted two children together.

The couple remained married until his death in 2013.