Her ex-husband was the inspiration for Dame Jilly Cooper’s iconic lothario, Rupert Campbell-Black.
So some may have wondered what would happen when the Queen met the author at a royal event yesterday.
But Camilla is in fact a huge fan of her bonkbuster books – and even, it seems, the raunchy Disney TV series of her novel Rivals.
At a reception filled with the country’s greatest literary talents to mark her third annual Queen’s Reading Room literary festival, Her Majesty greeted Dame Jilly with a warm kiss on each cheek.
She told the author that her former husband Andrew Parker Bowles – the inspiration for the author’s handsome lothario Rupert Campbell-Black (played by actor Alex Hassell on screen) – and her daughter, Laura Lopes, had been thrilled to be invited to a party earlier this year at Dame Jilly’s Gloucestershire home with the cast.
‘They enjoyed your party. They love a bit of your Rivals. Everybody’s enjoyed your Rivals,’ the Queen said with a smile.
Speaking afterwards Dame Jilly said: ‘We chatted about how much we love each other.
‘I’ve been very lucky. It’s lovely they all like it. Even her. We’ve known each other a long time. We live near each other.
Camilla met Jilly Cooper – who used the Queen’s ex-husband as the inspiration for an iconic book lothario – at a royal event yesterday
The author’s character Rupert Campbell-Black was reportedly inspired by Andrew Parker Bowles (above)
Alex Hassell (above) plays the character on screen in the raunchy series of her novel Rivals
‘Andrew is a wonderful man. Her Majesty and Andrew still get on so well. They are still great friends who are very fond of each other.’
The Queen’s Reading Room Festival has taken up residence at Chatsworth House in Derbyshire, one of the finest stately homes in the country.
The Queen’s Reading Room is a charity celebrating and promoting the transformative power of books in the UK and beyond.
Its online version has reached over 12million people in 183 countries.
