Dame Jilly Cooper cause of death has been revealed following an inquest today.
The writer known for her “bonkbusters” including Riders, Rivals and Polo – suffered a fatal head injury during a fall at her Gloucestershire home. Dame Jilly was found by family at her home in Bisley at about 5pm on October 4.
Gloucestershire Coroners’ Court heard Dame Jilly was initially alert and transferred by paramedics to Gloucestershire Royal Hospital, but her condition deteriorated. She died in hospital, with her family present, at 8.30am on October 5.
Just two days before, Jilly had visited the set of Rivals – the Disney+ adaptation of her hit novel Novel.
Katy Skerrett, senior coroner for Gloucestershire, reached a conclusion of accidental death and said Dame Jilly died as a result of a traumatic subdural haematoma.
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Speaking of the last time he saw Dame Jilly on sit prior to the tragedy, actor Alex Hassell, who played Rupert Campbell-Black, on Rivals said: “We’re all devastated. She was on set just the week before and, obviously, her voice and her character and her sense of creativity were such a huge driving force of the show in terms of the source material.
“She would okay everything, or we would hear that things have changed because she didn’t think that certain things characters do are quite right or representative of her view of the characters. But we also really want to honour her and try and do our best to keep making the show as good as possible.”
Last month it was revealed that Jilly had died unexpectedly at the age of 88 after a fall at home. Her children Felix and Emily said it had come as a “complete shock”.
Tributes were paid by avid readers including the Queen, who described Dame Jilly as a “legend” and a “wonderfully witty and compassionate friend to me and so many”.
Dame Jilly was a long-standing friend of Camilla, and the author based her fictional seducer and showjumping lothario Rupert Campbell-Black partly on the Queen’s ex-husband Andrew Parker Bowles.
Camilla said in a message released 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 and making it her own through a career that spanned over five decades.
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“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.” The message was signed “Camilla R”.
Dame Jilly was known for her steamy fiction focusing on scandal and adultery in upper class society.
Her hit titles included Riders, Rivals, Polo, Mount! and The Man Who Made Husbands Jealous, along with her most recent work Tackle!
Her children Felix and Emily said in a statement: “Mum was the shining light in all of our lives. Her love for all of her family and friends knew no bounds.
“Her unexpected death has come as a complete shock. 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.”
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