Dame Jilly Cooper left her children a net estate of £8.5 million following her death at age 88. The author died after a fall at her Gloucestershire home in October 2025, sustaining a fatal head injury. Probate records show a gross estate of £9,070,307, with a net value of £8,557,118 after deductions.
Beneficiaries and Estate Details
Her beneficiaries include children Felix and Emily, along with stepdaughter Laura Cooper, who will each receive an equal share. Probate was granted on June 18, 2026. One signatory on her documents listed their profession as a polo player, reflecting Cooper's literary focus on the polo-playing aristocracy.
Literary Legacy and TV Adaptation
Cooper was best known for her Rutshire Chronicles, including Riders, Rivals, and Polo. Her novels often explored scandal and adultery in upper-class society. Riders, published in 1985, was named to the BBC's list of 100 important English language novels in the love, sex, and romance category alongside Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice.
The Disney+ adaptation of Rivals has been a major success, starring David Tennant, Emily Atack, Aidan Turner, and others. The series also featured cameos from Hayley Atwell and Rupert Everett.
Personal Life and Tributes
Cooper was a longtime friend of the Queen and based her fictional seducer Rupert Campbell-Black partly on her ex-husband Andrew Parker Bowles. Her agent Felicity Blunt paid tribute at the time of her death, stating: "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."
