Family and friends of one of Britain’s greatest living explorers, Sir Ranulph Fiennes, have called for an investigation into his care arrangements after allegations he has been illegally placed in a series of care homes under a fake name by his wife.
Those close to the 82-year-old want the Office of the Public Guardian (OPG) to establish whether his wife Louise Millington-Cotes, 59, is correctly discharging her duties as his legal guardian.
John Simpson, the veteran BBC foreign correspondent and friend of Sir Ranulph, has joined the calls for transparency. In a post on X he wrote: “Horrified to hear what’s happened to my good friend Ran Fiennes.
“I’d like to tell the relevant authorities everything I know about the way he’s been treated. He’s the world’s bravest man, and he’s vulnerable. We must know what’s happening to him.”
Alexander Millington-Cotes, Sir Ranulph’s stepson and Mrs Millington-Cotes’s estranged son, told The Telegraph he called the OPG and spoke to their safeguarding team, but had “heard nothing back so far”.
It comes after a watchdog concluded the retired explorer, who has not been seen in public in two years, has been “unlawfully deprived of his liberty”, according to The Telegraph.
It has been claimed that his wife put extreme conditions on how he is looked after, and not allowed him to see friends or family.
A care home owner in Wales, where Sir Ranulph had been placed for seven weeks this year, spoke to the newspaper, saying they had reported several concerns about Sir Ranulph’s wellbeing to the authorities, including the police.
They reportedly approached the OPG to raise concerns about his wife’s medical arrangements for him, as well as a “do not resuscitate” document that she had provided.
The care home owner also raised concerns with the Care Inspectorate of Wales, which declared Sir Ranulph was being unlawfully kept in care homes and unable to consent to his care or treatment.
In an email seen by the newspaper, the care inspectorate wrote: “Currently [Sir Ranulph] is being deprived of his liberty unlawfully as there is no authorised deprivation in place which reflects the current residence and restrictions in place.
“[Sir Ranulph] is under continuous supervision and control, is not free to leave and is not able to consent to care, treatment and accommodation.
“As such, the provider is required to make an urgent and standard application under the deprivation of liberty safeguards as soon as practicable.”
The care home owner said Mrs Millington-Cotes provided a private carer, gave staff at the home strict instructions on his day-to-day activities and provided all of his medication, rather than registering him with a local GP.
Mrs Millington-Cotes was told by the owner that she must ensure that a deprivation of liberty safeguards (DoLS) order was in place as his legal guardian, but failed to ever provide one.
The owner emailed her to express the urgency of the situation, which led to “a falling out with her because she didn’t want us to apply for a DoLS”.
Sir Ranulph had reportedly spent time in a care home in London, before being moved to a facility in Wales, and then to one in Cheshire.
The Telegraph reported last week that Sir Ranulph’s visitors were made to sign non-disclosure agreements by his wife if they wanted to visit him at the care home in London.
Sir Ranulph’s stepson Alexander Millington-Cotes visited the care home in Cheshire last week and was told by staff his stepfather was not there. He is now crowdfunding a legal challenge to his mother’s lasting power of attorney.
An OPG spokesperson said: “A Lasting Power of Attorney is an important way to ensure that certain decisions about care and finances are made by someone you trust if you lack the capacity to make them yourself. We cannot comment on individual cases.”
The Care Inspectorate have been approached for comment. The Independent was unable to contact Mrs Millington-Cotes.
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