Jilly Cooper has been given a damehood in the new year honours list for her services to literature and charity.

The 86-year-old bestselling author and journalist who was awarded a DBE said she was “delighted, bewildered and ecstatic”, although for one who counts Rishi Sunak among her fans, the honour should perhaps not be that much of a surprise.

Cooper is known for her Rutshire Chronicles, which focus on scandal and adultery in upper-class society and an aristocratic character called Rupert Campbell-Black.

The series has had a string of bestsellers, including Riders, Rivals, Polo, Mount! and The Man Who Made Husbands Jealous along with her most recent work, 2023’s Tackle!.

Earlier this year, the UK prime minister told ITV’s This Morning that he was a fan of the chronicles.

In a statement, Cooper said: “I am absolutely and incredibly bowled over. I cannot believe I am a DBE, which in my case also stands for ‘delighted, bewildered and ecstatic’.”

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

A Disney+ series, based on Rivals and featuring the British actor Alex Hassell as Rupert, will also star David Tennant, Aidan Turner, Emily Atack and Danny Dyer, and is now in production.

Her first novel in the series, Riders, published in 1985, also made the BBC list of 100 important English language novels in the love, sex and romance selection alongside Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice.

Both Riders and Rivals, published in 1988, went to No 1 in the bestseller lists and 1991 novel Polo became the highest-selling hardback novel of the year.

She has continued to have success and her books have sold more than 11m copies in the UK, according to her website.

Cooper has been a patron of animal charities and spearheaded the Animals In War Memorial Fund in 1998, which led to a memorial being unveiled in Park Lane, London, in November 2004.

She has been listed as a patron for Compassion in World Farming, the Racehorse Sanctuary and Rehoming Centre, as well as Secret World Wildlife Rescue.