Dame Jilly Cooper left eye-watering sum to adopted children after fatal fall at Gloucestershire home

Dame Jilly Cooper left behind a fortune worth more than £8.5million following her death last October, newly released probate documents have revealed.

The celebrated novelist, known as the "queen of the bonkbuster", amassed an estate valued at £9,070,307 before liabilities, leaving a net value of £8,557,118.

Her adopted children, Felix and Emily, along with stepdaughter Laura from her late husband Leo Cooper's previous marriage, will each inherit an equal share of the estate.

Best known for her bestselling Rutshire Chronicles series, Dame Jilly sold more than 11 million books in Britain alone and became one of the country's most successful romantic novelists.

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The saga began with Riders in 1985 and continued with Rivals three years later, transforming the romantic lives and social intrigues of the wealthy country set into bestselling fiction.

Her work found fresh audiences when Rivals was adapted into a Disney+ series starring David Tennant, Danny Dyer and Aidan Turner, proving a major hit with viewers.

Dame Jilly, who lived in Bisley, Gloucestershire, died in October 2025 after suffering a catastrophic head injury in a fall at her Grade II-listed home.

Family members found the writer at around 5pm on October 4 after she had fallen down a staircase.

When paramedics arrived, Dame Jilly was conscious and complained of a severe headache, though she could not recall what had happened beyond a vague memory of falling.

Her daughter Emily Tarrant told the inquest she believed her mother had fallen on the stairs after discovering a trail of blood in that part of the house.

Hospital scans revealed the beloved author had suffered a catastrophic skull fracture, and doctors warned her family the injury was unlikely to be survivable.

Her condition deteriorated overnight and she died the following morning surrounded by her family.

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The senior coroner for Gloucestershire, Katy Skerrett, later concluded the death was accidental.

Dame Jilly had experienced two previous falls, in 2018 and September 2024.

Queen Camilla led tributes to her close friend following news of her death, expressing her sadness at the loss.

"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," the Queen said.

She described Dame Jilly as "a wonderfully witty and compassionate friend" and recalled seeing her at the Queen's Reading Room Festival just weeks before her death, where she was "as ever, a star of the show".

The Queen added: "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."

Her children, Felix and Emily, said after her death: "Mum was the shining light in all of our lives. Her love for all of her family and friends knew no bounds."

Dame Jilly was married to publisher Leo Cooper from 1961 until his death in 2013.

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