Queen Camilla drops in on ‘Rivals’ set in a tribute to her friend Jilly Cooper

LONDON: Britain’s Queen Camilla visited the set of hit television drama “Rivals” on Monday, surveying the shoulder pads, scandals and social climbing that echo a world she once knew well.

Camilla, wife of King Charles, led the tributes to the novelist behind “Rivals”, Jilly Cooper, when she died in October aged 88.

The pair were friends for decades, having met in the early 1980s in rural southwest England. The cocktail parties, charity balls and fox hunts they attended together inspired Cooper’s racy, best-selling novels.

When Disney+ launched the show last year, Cooper won a new generation of fans with her tales of bedhopping set against the backdrop of stately homes and rolling hills.

“Rivals” went on to become one of Britain’s most successful television dramas in recent years, drawing millions of viewers worldwide and scooping multiple awards.

Filming of the second series is now underway at studios in Bristol, close to Cooper’s country home. Camilla, joined by her daughter Laura, watched scenes being shot, met trainees, and admired the era’s power-dressing puffball skirts.

The queen also shared tea and cake with the cast, chatting to Alex Hassell, who plays Rupert Campbell-Black — the dashing rogue Cooper once said resembled Camilla’s first husband.

“Very few writers get to be a legend in their own lifetime but Jilly was one,” Camilla said at the time of her death, adding that she hoped her friend’s “hereafter” was filled with “impossibly handsome men and devoted dogs”.

The cast and crew said they missed Cooper’s presence on set and hoped to continue her legacy through the series before presenting the queen with an “I love Jilly Cooper” bag.

Her visit comes as Britain’s royal family embraces a more open approach to media, with the usually guarded heir to the throne Prince William talking to Eugene Levy for the Canadian actor’s TV travel show this year.