A host of Rivals stars joined friends and loved-ones of Dame Jilly Cooper including Queen Camilla to celebrate her ‘extraordinary’ and ‘naughty’ life at a memorial service in central London today.
A service in the author’s honour was held on Friday morning at the Anglican Southwark Cathedral after her tragic death last year.
Dame Jilly died unexpectedly in October, aged 88, after sustaining injuries from a fall, following a glittering and steamy literary career that enjoyed a revival in recent years.
Among the mourners were a host of Rivals actors including Danny Dyer, Alex Hassell, David Tennant, Bella Maclean and Katherine Parkinson. Season two of the hit show is being filmed and is due out later this year.
Queen Camilla was welcomed by the Very Rev Dr Mark Oakley, Dean of Southwark. She smiled as she viewed a picture of her great friend, which was on display outside.
Camilla’s ex-husband Andrew Parker-Bowles, who was Dame Jilly’s primary inspiration for her ’24-carat cad’ character of Rupert Campbell-Black in her Rutshire Chronicles novels, including Rivals, was in the congregation.
Dame Jilly’s literary agent Felicity Blunt, sister of actress Emily, looked sombre as she walked into the cathedral with her actor husband Stanley Tucci. She carried a tote bag that said ‘I love Jilly Cooper’ on it.
Tucci paid tribute to the late author and told journalists outside: ‘She lived an incredible life. She also changed the lives of so many people for the better with her books, my wife being one of them. She was an extraordinary person, a brilliant writer, nice person and naughty.’
Broadcaster Gyles Brandreth paid tribute to the ‘fabulous’ and ‘amazing’ Dame Jilly Cooper – and described their final meeting, which involved a chat about sex.
‘I saw her a few weeks before she died. We sat in the back of the bus, we held hands, we talked about sex. She was fabulous’, he said.
Queen Camilla speaks with Dean of Southwark Mark Oakley ahead of a service of thanksgiving for Dame Jilly Cooper held today. She admired a picture of her great friend outside
Rivals stars Alex Hassell, who plays Rupert Campbell-Black in the show, arrived with Bella Maclean
Queen Camilla’s ex-husband Andrew Parker-Bowles, who was Dame Jilly’s primary inspiration for her ’24-carat cad’ character of Rupert Campbell-Black in her Rutshire Chronicles novels, including Rivals, was in the congregation. His son Tom Parker-Bowles and daughter Laura Lopes were beside him
Aidan Turner and Caitlin FitzGerald also came to remember Dame Jilly’s extraordinary life
Danny Dyer, whose role in Rivals has been lauded, also joined the star-studded congregation
Actor, author and foodie Stanley Tucci and his Felicity Blunt were there. Felicity was Dame Jilly’s literary agent and had a tote bag in her honour. Tucci said: ‘She was an extraordinary person, a brilliant writer, nice person and naughty’
David and Georgia Tennant held hands as they entered the church
Joanna Lumley smiled and chatted as she came to remember and celebrate her friend
Dame Jilly Cooper died tragically after a fall last year. She was aged 88
He went on: ‘Whenever I think of Jilly Cooper, I think of one word, a three letter word, fun, fun, fun, fun.
‘That sums her up.
‘This is, of course, terribly sad, but also it’s a celebration of an amazing life, an amazing writer, an amazing human being.
‘Champagne is being popped in heaven today and I’m honoured and delighted to be here amongst so many celebrating an amazing writer.’
He continued: ‘I first met her nearly 60 years ago. We were both young authors. We sat at the back of a bus. I held her hand, and she decided to talk to me about sex.
‘I saw her a few weeks before she died. We sat in the back of the bus, we held hands, we talked about sex. She was fabulous.’
Arriving for the service, Alan Titchmarsh said he was friends with Dame Jilly for 40 years and described her as ‘hugely genuine’.
He joked: ‘Her only failing was her appalling hand drawing.’
Asked what it meant to be there at the service, Titchmarsh said: ‘It’s a way of saying thank you really. Such a loss of a great friend.’
Irish actress and Rivals star Victoria Smurfit said that we have lost ‘a ray of sunshine’.
Speaking outside Southwark Cathedral, Smurfit said: ‘I feel extremely grateful and unbelievably lucky that a woman who’s been in my life for nearly 40 years as a name as an author, her voice has been in my world for 40 years, that I got to live in her presence and be part of her world.
‘It’s going to be terribly sad today and surreal and oddly making it real that she is gone.
‘We will keep her memory and stories alive for as long as we can.
‘I think what it means for me to be here today is really to support her family. I think that’s the most important thing because it’s a tough time. I mean, what a girl.
‘We’ve lost a ray of sunshine. We really have.’
Actor Sir Derek Jacobi said she was a ‘glorious lady’ and he ‘loved her very much and miss her very much’.
He added: ‘It means a great deal to be here, just to say a final ‘hello’.
‘We loved her dearly.
Actor Rupert Everett looked dapper as he arrived for the service
Rivals star Nafessa Williams, who plays Cameron Cook, looked glamorous at the service
Rivals actor Victoria Smurfit joined the large cast at the cathedral
Actor Rufus Jones, who plays Paul Stratton in Rivals was also at the memorial service
Actor Samuel West and gardener Alan Titchmarsh came to remember Dame Jilly
Clare Balding and Rory Bremner were also in the congregation
Derek Jacobi (right) and Richard Clifford arrive for a service of thanksgiving
Gyles Brandreth smiled as he walked in to remember his friend and described their last meeting
The Order of Service for today’s memorial
Dame Jilly was known for her steamy fiction novels which focused on scandal and adultery in upper class society, with titles including Riders, Rivals and Polo, part of The Rutshire Chronicles.
Rivals, set in the 1980s against the backdrop of the Cotswolds countryside, was recently adapted into the award-winning eponymous Disney+ TV series starring David Tennant, Alex Hassell, Emily Atack and Danny Dyer.
Dame Jilly’s fictional seducer and showjumper Rupert Campbell-Black, who appears in The Rutshire Chronicles, is said to be partly based on the Queen’s ex-husband Andrew Parker Bowles.
Camilla previously described the author as a ‘wonderfully witty and compassionate friend’ and a writing ‘legend’.
A number of Dame Jilly’s novels were adapted for TV, including an ITV series of The Man Who Made Husbands Jealous with Coronation Street star Stephen Billington and Downton Abbey actor Hugh Bonneville, and a Riders series starring Marcus Gilbert during the 1990s.
She was also behind the 1970s sitcom It’s Awfully Bad For Your Eyes, which starred Dame Joanna Lumley.
Dame Jilly wrote the hit novel Mount! and published her most recent work Tackle! in 2023, which she wrote on her trusty manual typewriter named Monica.
The author was made a CBE for services to literature and charity during the 2018 New Year Honours, and in 2024 was made a dame, later describing receiving the honour from the King as ‘orgasmic’.
She is survived by her two children, Felix and Emily.
Dame Jilly died from a head injury after falling down a flight of stairs at her Cotswolds home, her inquestheard.
The 88-year-old writer was found by family at her Grade II listed home in Bisley, Gloucestershire, at around 5pm on October 4.
They called for an ambulance and upon arrival, paramedics found Dame Jilly alert and referring to a ‘severe headache’.
She had no memory of the events prior, but had a ‘vague recollection’ of falling down, the inquest heard.
Dame Jilly’s daughter, Emily Tarrant, believed her mother had fallen down the stairs as a ‘trail of blood’ was found in that area of her home where she lived after the death of her husband Leo in 2013.
She was rushed to hospital where a CT scan revealed she had suffered a ‘catastrophic’ skull fracture.
Doctors heartbreakingly informed her family it was ‘likely a terminal event’ and she was made comfortable.
The author’s condition deteriorated overnight and she died the following morning in hospital surrounded by loved ones.
She had sustained two falls previously in 2018 and September 2024.
