Sir Ranulph Fiennes’s wife has begun allowing a limited number of relatives and friends to visit the explorer amid rising concern about his whereabouts.
The 82-year-old, who was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2019, was moved to a specialist dementia facility by his second wife, Louise Millington-Cotes. She had previously placed tight restrictions on who could see him.
Ms Millington-Cotes, 59, is now understood to have disclosed Sir Ranulph’s location to a small circle of people and authorised a number of visits.
However, her 31-year-old son, Alex Millington-Cotes, has been denied access and says he is worried he may never see his stepfather again.
Several family members and friends are seeking a Court of Protection hearing to determine whether Ms Millington-Cotes is properly using her authority as Sir Ranulph’s attorney.
The request comes after allegations that she moved the adventurer between care facilities and made visitors sign non-disclosure agreements barring them from sharing details of his location.
People who have visited Sir Ranulph say he is receiving good care and spends his time alongside a dedicated carer.
Even so, questions continue to be raised about the restrictions limiting contact with him.
Sir Ranulph pictured with his second wife Lady Louise Millington-Cotes, a horse trainer from Cheshire
Ranulph (left) pictured with wife Louise Fiennes (centre) and his third cousin, actor Ralph Fiennes (right) in London in 2012
Sir Ranulph pictured with his first wife, childhood sweetheart Virginia ‘Ginny’ Fiennes, who died in 2004 from cancer
“We want to know – has she acted in his best interests?” a person close to Sir Ranulph told the Telegraph.
“One can’t help but feel that being in a good place, with a steady stream of familiar faces to break up the day, will help him feel loved and supported – and that can only be positive.”
Alex Millington-Cotes, who is estranged from his mother, has started a crowdfunding appeal to cover legal costs as he seeks to “locate and safeguard” the explorer.
He has accused his mother of having “not acted right from the beginning”.
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Sir Ranulph became the first person to reach both the North and South Poles by surface travel in the early 1980s. Guinness World Records calls him “the world’s greatest living explorer”.
His last public appearance came at a Royal Geographical Society gala held in his honour in October 2024. Unable to attend, he appeared in a short pre-recorded video and apologised for not being “well enough” to be there in person.
Since then, many of his closest friends have found it difficult to reach him, intensifying their concerns for his welfare.
His retreat from public life was examined in a Daily Mail investigation published last Saturday under the headline: “Where on earth is Ranulph Fiennes?”
The investigation reported that Sir Ranulph had been moved between five locations in a single year, including four care homes and a hotel.
He spent 49 days at a care facility in Wales after arriving there on January 21.
Lady Fiennes, who married Sir Ranulph in 2005 and is 23 years younger than him, holds lasting power of attorney over both his property and financial affairs and his health and welfare.
However, the Care Inspectorate Wales concluded that Sir Ranulph was being unlawfully deprived of his liberty because the necessary authorisation covering his residence was not in place.
The home’s owner told the Daily Mail that Lady Fiennes also failed to provide a medication list from a doctor or prescriber despite repeated requests and insisted that Sir Ranulph remained under the care of his private GP in London rather than being registered locally.
She supplied all of his medication, while some of the antibiotics administered to him were prescribed in her name rather than his.
The owner also alleged that Lady Fiennes asked staff to alter some of his medication doses, but they refused to do so without a written prescription.
‘That left the home with no clinical oversight of him at all,’ the owner said.
‘No doctor saw him in the 49 days he was with us.’
Although some friends and relatives are now aware of Sir Ranulph’s location, concerns over his care, access and welfare continue to grow among those closest to him.