Dame Jilly Cooper suffered fatal head injury after fall at home, inquest told

Dame Jilly Cooper suffered a fatal head injury during a fall at her Gloucestershire home, an inquest has heard.

The writer – known for her “bonkbusters” including Riders, Rivals and Polo – 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.

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.

The coroner said: “The deceased was Dame Jill ‘Jilly’ Cooper, an 88-year-old lady.

“When she passed away was October 5 2025 at 8.30am. Where she passed away was at Gloucestershire Royal Hospital where she had been transferred.

“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.

“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.”

Dame Jilly was known for her steamy fiction focusing on scandal and adultery in upper class society.

Her hit titles also include Mount! and The Man Who Made Husbands Jealous, along with her most recent work Tackle!.

Her work Rivals was recently adapted as a hit television series by Disney+ starring David Tennant, Aidan Turner, Danny Dyer and Katherine Parkinson.

The inquest, consisting of written statements read by the coroner, heard Dame Jilly’s daughter Emily Tarrant confirmed her identity to the court in a phone call.

Dame Jilly was born in Hornchurch, Essex, in February 1937 and was a widowed author, the hearing was told.

Ms Tarrant confirmed to coroner’s officer Tony Jones that her mother had fallen at her home in Bisley, near Stroud, on October 4.

The coroner said Dame Jilly was transferred to Gloucestershire Royal Hospital where she was “initially alert but referring to a severe headache”.

Ms Skerrett said it was believed Dame Jilly had fallen down a flight of stairs “as there was a trail of blood” in that area of her home.

An urgent CT scan revealed she had sustained a skull fracture.

“The medical opinion was that this head injury was unfortunately catastrophic and therefore likely a terminal event,” Ms Skerrett added.

“She was made comfortable, her condition sadly thereafter deteriorated and she passed away in the emergency department with family present.”

In a statement, South Western Ambulance Service confirmed it had been called at 5.35pm on October 4 and arrived at Dame Jilly’s home at 5.56pm.

Ms Skerrett said: “The patient was able to speak to crew on arrival.

“She had no direct recollection of events prior. She was unsure how she had fallen. She had a vague recollection of falling down.”

Dr William Nattrass, Dame Jilly’s GP for around 14 years, said in a statement that she had sustained two falls previously, in 2018 and September 2024.

“Despite slowing mobility, she was managing well and remained as bright and engaging as ever,” Ms Skerrett read.

Dame Jilly grew up in Yorkshire and attended the private Godolphin School in Salisbury.

Her father was a brigadier and her family moved to London in the 1950s where she became a reporter on The Middlesex Independent when she was 20.

She has said she moved to public relations and was sacked from 22 jobs before ending up in book publishing.

Her work has been adapted at various points, including an ITV series of The Man Who Made Husbands Jealous with Coronation Street star Stephen Billington and Downton Abbey actor Hugh Bonneville, while Marcus Gilbert starred in a Riders series during the 1990s.

She won the inaugural Comedy Women In Print lifetime achievement award in 2019 and was made a dame for her services to literature and charity in 2024.

Dame Jilly was a long-standing friend of the Queen, and based her fictional seducer and showjumping lothario Rupert Campbell-Black partly on her ex-husband Andrew Parker Bowles.

In a statement issued by Buckingham Palace after Dame Jilly’s death, Camilla said: “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.

“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.”

Dame Jilly’s children Felix Cooper and Ms Tarrant also paid tribute to her.

They said: “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.”

Dame Jilly’s first novel in the Rutshire series, Riders, was published in 1985.

It made the BBC list of 100 important English language novels in the love, sex and romance selection alongside Jane Austen’s Pride And Prejudice.

One of her literary fans was former prime minister Rishi Sunak who previously spoke about his favourite books by Dame Jilly, adding that her novels offered a form of “escapism”.

Her agent, Felicity Blunt, also paid tribute at the time her death was announced, saying Dame Jilly had “defined culture, writing and conversation since she was first published over 50 years ago”.

“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,” she added.

A new edition of Dame Jilly’s book, How To Survive Christmas, which was first published in 1986, will be released by Transworld on November 13.

Her agent previously confirmed that her funeral would be private, in line with her wishes.

A public service of thanksgiving will be held at Southwark Cathedral at a later date.