EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW
DAME JILLY COOPER
AS THE QUEEN SENDS HER CONGRATULATIONS
HOW RECEIVING A DAMEHOOD WAS A WRITE SURPRISE
The Duke of Cambridge, as he was then, presents Jilly with her CBE in 2018, which the author proudly displays outside Buckingham Palace (left)
She is the doyenne of racy romantic fiction, and now best-selling author and passionate animal-lover Jilly Cooper has been made a dame for services to literature and charity.
Speaking exclusively to HELLO! from her home in the Cotswolds, elated Dame Jilly tells how she has been inundated with congratulatory letters, cards and champagne – and one in particular, from a long-standing friend, stands out.
“Among my favourite messages was a beautiful card from Queen Camilla. I also received a lovely telephone call from her former husband Brigadier Andrew Parker Bowles, who has helped me with so many of my books. And darling Dame Joanna Lumley, who starred in a TV series I wrote many years ago.