Inside the mystery of missing Sir Ranulph Fiennes as celebs unite to uncover truth & ‘free’ explorer from wife’s control

HIS hand trembling, Sir Ranulph Fiennes struggled to recall details of his incredible record-breaking feats, including being the first man to cross the Antarctic unsupported.

But during our interview four years ago, the man often described as “the world’s greatest living explorer” had a twinkle in his eye as he joked about having a heart attack on an EasyJet flight, and spoke defiantly of “beating” Parkinson’s disease.

Just two years later, vanished from public view.

whereabouts are currently unknown after he was allegedly moved from care home to care home under fake names by his second wife, Louise.

Now friends and family have turned to police in a bid to help locate , and are calling for him to be “freed” from the control of his spouse.

In an extraordinary attack, Louise’s own son, Alex Millington-Cotes — who is the adventurer’s stepson — said: “I believe my mother exerted a controlling influence from the very start of their marriage.”

One of closest friends, Anton Bowring, even asked for — a long-time pal of the explorer — to intervene in the case.

Adventurers , along with TV’s and , are among other influential names backing urgent demands for action.

So far, it seems the are unwilling to step in.

said: “We have been desperately trying to connect with Ran for a year now, to no avail. But truth always wins out.

“These reports of his isolation from his loved ones and treatment in care homes are so deeply disturbing.“

Louise, 59, has lasting power of attorney over , who was diagnosed with in 2020 and also has , and .

He married her in 2005, a year after his first wife Ginny died from cancer aged 56.

The Care Inspectorate Wales reportedly believe that was “unlawfully deprived of liberty” while staying at a care home in the country.

Meanwhile, Louise allegedly failed to set up a legal order called “deprivation of liberty safeguards”.

This is used to protect vulnerable people who lack mental capacity.

It is further claimed Louise gave a “do not attempt cardiopulmonary resuscitation” document to one home.

There are doubts as to how mentally incapacitated Sir Ranulph really is.

Ginny’s sister, Arabella Pepper, claimed to have tracked him down to a care home in West London in July last year, and said he was “lucid, articulate, sense of humour intact. Memory fine”.

Care workers were reportedly told to hide Sir Ranulph’s identity when he went out for walks by making him wear a hat, sunglasses and gloves.

There is a suspicion the explorer is now living at Louise’s home, with the publicity around the case meaning he can no longer keep a low profile in a care home.

So far, his wife has not commented publicly about the claims that Sir Ranulph, who is a third cousin of actors , is being held against his will.

It is not uncommon for people who are no longer able to look after themselves to be placed in care by their loved ones, even if it is not something they wish to happen.

But it is unusual for friends and family to be denied the right to visit.

And it is certainly a bizarre fate for the brave baronet, who was known for his never-say-die spirit.

During a colourful life, Sir Ranulph was thrown out of the SAS for planning to blow up a film set to protest about the shoot’s disruption to a nearby English village.

He also cut off some of his fingertips in his shed rather than wait in agony for an operation for frostbite.

He refused a helicopter rescue from the Arctic in 1982 because it would have wrecked his journey around the globe on its polar axis using only surface transportation.

And Sir Ranulph said he had been dead for “three days and nights” following a heart attack after boarding a flight from Bristol to Edinburgh in June 2003.

Yet four months later, he ran seven marathons on seven continents in seven days.

It was clear that he wasn’t going to let Parkinson’s hold him back, either.

When I interviewed him in 2022 — about a documentary called Explorer, covering his derring-do — he was raring to begin his next adventure.

Sir Ranulph, who had been trying to “cure” Parkinson’s with cold water swimming, said: “We are talking about more expeditions, but we have not gotten to the stage of getting sponsorship.”

A couple of times during the interview, the film’s director, Matt Dyas, had to help Sir Ranulph remember timelines, but he told his anecdotes with great vigour.

The explorer continued to give talks around Britain until a car accident in September 2024 delivered a wounding blow to his cherished independence.

Rather than attend a tribute to him and his late wife Ginny at London’s Royal Geographical Society the following month, he recorded a video for the event.

It was the last time he was seen by the public.

According to reports, horse breeder Louise, who has a 20-year-old daughter, Elizabeth, with Sir Ranulph, has placed him in a number of different care homes.

Friends and family desperately want to speak to him.

Joanna Lumley said: “It has been really troubling and dreadful to know that no matter how hard we try, his many close friends and fellow adventurers have been barred from knowing where or how he is.”

And Ben Fogle commented: “That such a great man, a hero of mine and a national treasure, should be treated in this way — isolated and kept away from family and friends — is very troubling.”

Arabella Pepper, 68, Ginny’s sister, went as far as moving into a care home in London in a bid to find him.

She said that one morning, she spotted Sir Ranulph at breakfast, later telling The Sunday Times: “The relief on his face was a picture.

“It was very sad, but he was obviously relieved to hear he hadn’t been abandoned and that people were still thinking of him.”

Shortly afterwards, Arabella was asked to leave the care home and Sir Ranulph was moved to a new location.

The owner of a Welsh care home claimed that Sir Ranulph would sometimes be found standing by the door in his coat expecting to leave.

The businessman also reportedly had concerns over the “do not resuscitate” order and absence of “deprivation of liberty safeguards” document.

The care home owner claimed: “We had to fight for his best interests.

“Families fall out over money — we see that often — but for health, wellbeing and care of someone, there are never arguments.”

It is unclear why Louise might want to keep the hero’s friends and family away.

Sir Ranulph, who inherited a baronetcy from his father, Lt-Col Sir Ranulph Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes, claimed not to be rich.

He told The Sun in 2022 that he was so hard up, he slept in his ageing Ford Mondeo following one speaking engagement because he could not afford a hotel.

Sir Ranulph said: “Everybody except billionaires and unicorn people gets to an age when they aren’t making enough for what they want, and I am no exception to that.”

The explorer also spoke warmly of both his wives and described Louise as a “magnificent mother”.

Her son Alex, who has been estranged from his mum since 2018, paints a different picture.

He was close to Sir Ranulph and now hopes to loosen Louise’s grip on his stepdad.

Alex is crowd-funding for a legal team to challenge the extent of her power of attorney.

He said: “Perhaps a court order to pull back the power my mother has over him so that she’s not able to make decisions — at least, not on her own.

“I want to ensure his complete free will, the ability to walk outside, see whoever he wants.”

For a man once independent enough to trek across unsupported, it does not seem much to ask that he be free to spend his twilight years surrounded by his loved ones.