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Rupert Edward Algernon Campbell-Black is a fictional character in the Rutshire Chronicles series of romance novels written by Dame Jilly Cooper. He is the eighth-generation descendant of Rupert Black (who married Miss Campbell). Campbell-Black's first appearance is in the novel Riders, which follows the lives and loves of a group of horse riders and show-jumpers. Although initially portrayed as a brutish, womanizing, adulterous cad, Campbell-Black's character is later somewhat redeemed through his triumphant winning of an Olympic gold medal for Great Britain. His loyalty is also highlighted through his friendships with Billy Lloyd-Foxe, Ricky France-Lynch and Declan O'Hara, as well as his gentle courtship of his second wife Agatha 'Taggie' O'Hara. He has five children: Marcus and Tabitha from his marriage with Helen Macaulay, adopted children Xavier and Bianca with Taggie, and the illegitimate Perdita.

Cooper has acknowledged that the character of Campbell-Black was inspired by: the 11th Duke of Beaufort; Andrew Parker Bowles, the former husband of Queen Camilla; and the 21st Earl of Suffolk.

Appearances

• Riders (1986 novel) and its 1993 film adaptation
• Rivals (1988 novel) and its 2024 television adaptation
• Polo (1991 novel)
• The Man Who Made Husbands Jealous (1993 novel) and its 1997 television film adaptation
• Appassionata (1996 novel)
• Score! (1999 novel)
• Pandora (2002 novel)
• Wicked! (2006 novel)
• Jump! (2010 novel)
• Mount! (2016 novel)
• Tackle! (2023 novel)

Notes

1. Rowan Pelling, On its 30th anniversary, why Riders is the best erotic fiction of all time dated 7 March 2015 at telegraph.co.uk, accessed 20 January 2018
2. "Cotswolds author Jilly Cooper mourns death of Earl who inspired one of her most iconic characters". Gloucestershire Live. 9 August 2022. Retrieved 9 August 2022.

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