A new report has alleged King Charles III was barred from reaching out to his longtime friend, Sir Ranulph Fiennes, whose health has been rapidly deteriorating.
The 77-year-old Monarch is allegedly concerned about the renowned explorer, 82, who was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2019 and hasn’t been seen in public since 2024.
However, despite the pair being friends for 45 years, the King is said to have been prevented from talking to him by Fiennes’ wife when he reached out.
The Telegraph reports that Charles was notified about Fiennes’ declining health and isolation by another adventurer, Anton Bowring, and was “most concerned” by the information he received, a member of staff claimed at the time.
Bowring took part in the Transglobe Expedition, of which Charles was patron, with Fiennes between 1979 and 1982.
Bowring claimed that Fiennes was in a “poor state”, adding: “Very little information about him is forthcoming, and his many friends are concerned about him. More than that I cannot say, but I just thought that His Majesty would like to know.”
The King’s equerry is said to have replied to Bowring via letter, telling him that Charles would really like to write to “Ran, Louise and their daughter Elizabeth” and see if he could offer his help in any way.
He also asked how he could communicate with Fiennes and was provided with the phone number of his second wife and legal guardian, Louise Millington-Cotes, 59.
However, just one hour later, Bowring was met with a hostile message from Millington-Cotes, who allegedly threatened him with legal action and police intervention for sharing her number with the Palace.
She further alleged that they had caused her husband “immense distress” and proceeded to tell them to “back off”, rejecting the King’s request to speak with Fiennes.
Bowring was said to be taken aback by the response, particularly as he thought Fiennes would be “thrilled” that the King “cared about him” enough to reach out.
The Telegraph claims that Millington-Cotes later told her friends that Charles hated her husband and that his wife, Queen Camilla, had annoyed them by flying helicopters over their home.
In November 2024, Millington-Cotes was granted lasting power of attorney over her husband and placed him in a number of care homes under a false name.
It is understood that Fiennes’ friends and family were initially allowed to see him if they signed NDAs (non-disclosure agreements), but the Telegraph states that Millington-Cotes has now kept details of his whereabouts a secret from his loved ones and refuses to tell them where he is.
Now, they are calling for an investigation into his current care arrangement and are requesting that Britain’s Office of the Public Guardian intervene in the matter.
It comes after a dramatic few weeks for the King, who has been at the centre of controversy following the release of Earl Charles Spencer’s book, Swan Song: Diana, My Sister.
Spencer sensationally claimed in the book that, just days after Princess Diana’s tragic death in a car accident in 1997, Charles told him, “We’ll forget Diana soon enough,” during a bitter phone call.
He also wrote in the memoir that Charles sounded “giddily elated” when he spoke to him in a separate phone call following Diana’s death, and that his reaction was that of a “lottery winner”.
In response to the Earl’s bombshell book, Buckingham Palace broke with their “never complain, never explain” custom and issued a pointed response to the excerpt, which expressed that “His Majesty is mindful that the pain of fraternal grief can cloud reason”.
Read related topics:King Charles