Jilly Cooper's wild life from train crash to husband's affair and racy royal muse

Beloved author Dame Jilly Cooper has died aged 88 after suffering a fall, her family has confirmed.

Jilly's children Felix and Emily issued a statement confirming that their mother died on Sunday morning. "Mum, was the shining light in all of our lives," they said. "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."

Famed for her steamy Rutshire novels, Jilly, who started her career as a journalist, rose to prominence in the mid-70s when she published her first romance novel.

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She became a household name in the 80s with bestsellers Riders and Rivals. But as well as enjoying incredible success, she also overcame adversity after suffering a string of heartbreaks in her personal life.

Born in Essex but raised in Yorkshire, her big break came when Godfrey Smith, the editor of The Sunday Times Magazine, invited her to write about her dinner party experiences.

This led to a column where she explored the ups and downs of sex, marriage, and domestic chores - which inspired her debut book How to Stay Married in 1969. Jilly tied the knot with military book publisher Leo Cooper at the age of 24 in 1961.

The couple knew each other from childhood and reconnected in their 20s. Unable to conceive, they adopted two children.

Unfortunately, Jilly was confronted with the harsh reality of infidelity when their marriage was shaken by Leo's affair with publisher Sarah Johnson.

The affair had been going on for years, and Sarah came clean after watching Jilly 'boast' about her flawless relationship. In an attempt to start anew, Jilly and Leo relocated from London to the Gloucestershire countryside in the '80s.

Jilly also once revealed that the steamy bedroom scenes were, in part, inspired by her own love life with Leo, who died in 2013.

"You have to imagine you're having it with somebody. I had a heavenly husband who died 10 years ago and he was wonderful at sex. So I used to just imagine what we'd been up to," she once told The Guardian.

Their marriage had more to it than just a physical bond, as Jilly once revealed the key to a happy marriage was: "Creaking bed springs – from laughter, rather than sex."

Leo was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in 2002, and during a 2010 interview, Jilly opened up about being his carer.

She told The National: "Everyone is asking me why I keep on writing and I think it's a bit sad that it always comes out that I write to pay the bills. That is not entirely true. I actually love the writing process.

"But the fact is that Leo isn't very well and his round-the-clock care bills are horrific. It's probably about £100,000 a year to pay for full-time carers, and that's one reason why I've got to go on writing pretty hard. We are lucky we have heavenly carers. I've got to keep on writing but it's not a problem because I love doing it."

His affair wasn't the only trauma she managed to overcome. In 1999, Jilly was travelling in one of the derailed carriages during the Ladbroke Grove rail disaster of 1999. The author managed to clamber through a window to safety, but 31 people lost their lives. Her daughter told how she brushed herself off and hailed a taxi with someone else's blood on her shirt.

"I saw this bright orange flash and thought this is it, my number has come up," she said.

In 2010 she suffered a stroke, known as a TIA, or transient ischaemic attack, while caring for Leo but was characteristically stoic about it. “I was sitting there, talking to Leo and suddenly I went sideways and something very odd happened. About five minutes later I felt perfectly all right,” she recalled.

“They just cut you open and scrape the artery. I’m de-furred. I don’t want people to think I’m ill. I’m not. Everybody thinks I was away because of my teeth. It was a shock because I thought I was tremendously well. I was just in hospital overnight. Poor Leo.”

She has often said that her inability to conceive gave her the time and space to flourish as a writer. Her novels that depict the indulgent escapades of the upper class, often inspired by aristocrats, are world-famous and a 'guilty pleasure' for many fans, including former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who admitted they help him unwind.

There is also a certain mystery surrounding Jilly's characters, as she has felt the need to be extra careful when naming them to avoid any real-life associations.

Instead, she's drawn inspiration from towns and villages when creating surnames.

"You have to be very careful not to use real people's names by mistake, as they might sue you if they behave badly in the story," she told the Telegraph.

One character Jilly disclosed the backstory for was Campbell-Black, from Riders.

The stallion owner, who captivates both stable hands and married women, is believed to be inspired by Queen Camilla's former partner Andrew Parker Bowles, fashion designer Rupert Lycett-Green and the Earl of Suffolk.

During an appearance on This Morning, Jilly said she'd enjoyed an extended alcohol-fuelled meal with the ex-Manchester United manager, sharing: "We chatted and chatted and chatted and it was so funny, we had such giggles. I told him a naughty joke, and he got out his diary and wrote it down because he wanted to use it later. Afterwards, I decided to write a novel about football."