{"id":628394,"date":"2026-09-26T19:04:11","date_gmt":"2026-09-26T19:04:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/628394\/"},"modified":"2026-09-26T19:04:11","modified_gmt":"2026-09-26T19:04:11","slug":"ranulph-fiennes-stepson-appeals-for-funds-to-locate-and-safeguard-the-explorer-ranulph-fiennes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/628394\/","title":{"rendered":"Ranulph Fiennes\u2019 stepson appeals for funds to \u2018locate and safeguard\u2019 the explorer | Ranulph Fiennes"},"content":{"rendered":"

The stepson of Sir Ranulph Fiennes<\/a> has launched a crowdfunder to pay for \u201cspecialist legal advice\u201d in an attempt to locate the explorer, who hasn\u2019t been seen in public for more than two years.<\/p>\n

Alexander Millington-Cotes, 31, has set a target of \u00a355,000 for the fundraiser, to enable him to instruct lawyers to \u201clocate and safeguard\u201d Fiennes.<\/p>\n

Millington-Cotes\u2019 mother, Louise, from whom he is estranged, has lasting power of attorney in relation to Fiennes\u2019 care, which her son wants to see revoked.<\/p>\n

Friends and family are growing increasingly concerned for the welfare of the renowned expedition leader, who is 82 and has Parkinson\u2019s disease.<\/p>\n

It is understood that Louise, Fiennes\u2019 second wife, has installed him in a succession of care homes where he has not been allowed to receive visitors.<\/p>\n

According to the Telegraph, the former soldier had previously spent time in a care home in Wales under a pseudonym. It reported a watchdog had concluded his living arrangements amounted to a deprivation of his liberty because his wife had failed to ensure adequate legal safeguards were in place.<\/p>\n

The newspaper also said that Fiennes, widely considered the world\u2019s greatest living explorer, had spent time in another care home in London, where visitors were apparently asked to sign non-disclosure agreements by Louise, 59, before being allowed to see him.<\/p>\n

Arabella McIntyre-Brown, sister of Fiennes\u2019 late first wife, Ginny, said she was so concerned about his welfare that she checked into the London home for a week in an attempt to speak to him. She told the Telegraph that he expressed a wish to see his friends.<\/p>\n

Ranulph Fiennes with his first wife, Ginny, in 1971. She died in 2004. Photograph: PA<\/p>\n

Millington-Cotes\u2019 crowdfunder had raised almost \u00a33,000 on Saturday afternoon. He told supporters: \u201cRan has spent his entire life pushing boundaries for others and representing the best of human endurance. Now, he needs us to fight for him.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added that donations would cover \u201cspecialist legal representation and advice\u201d, court fees and the cost of \u201cdetermining [Fiennes\u2019] exact location, to be shared with the relevant authorities\u201d.<\/p>\n

Millington-Cotes said he had a difficult relationship with his mother, who told him he was unwelcome at the family home two years ago.<\/p>\n

About this time, Fiennes, the first person to cross Antarctica on foot, failed to appear at a gala evening organised in his honour at the Royal Geographical Society in Kensington, west London.<\/p>\n

Instead, he delivered a brief, prerecorded message from home, saying he was \u201cnot well enough\u201d to attend in person. He has not been seen publicly since.<\/p>\n

Millington-Cotes alleged that he had been forced to visit his stepfather in secret after the breakdown of his relationship with his mother.<\/p>\n

\u201cSince being asked to leave the family home and not come back, I can only imagine the amplification of Ran\u2019s difficulties and isolation,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis isolation would consist of being effectively annexed in the other end of the house, with relatively minimal contact.<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember him gleaming the occasional times I would appear unannounced with some sweet treats, which I\u2019d had to haul with me as I climbed over the seven-foot industrial entrance gate.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThe last time I saw Ran was when he whisked me away while I was walking up the drive on one of my infrequent visits, sadly neither him or I realised that it may be the last time we\u2019d see and hug one another.<\/p>\n

Ranulph Fiennes in Aconcagua, Argentina, in 2017 in a still from Explorer, the documentary about him. Photograph: David Carter\/\u00a9DavidCarter\/FieldcraftStudios<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the moment he told me he was proud of me, a sweet moment in my memory.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said that, over the past two years, he had \u201ctried multiple avenues\u201d in an effort to locate his stepfather, whom his mother married in 2005.<\/p>\n

Ginny, to whom Fiennes was married for 34 years, had died of cancer the previous year. Louise gave birth to a daughter, Elizabeth, in 2006, Fiennes\u2019 only biological child.<\/p>\n

While Millington-Cotes described his stepfather as \u201ca man of immense heart, kindness, and selflessness who supported me for years\u201d, he said his strained relationship with Louise had caused him \u201cgreat pain and distress\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cUpon learning from other friends and family that Ran was considered missing, I put aside my own pain and immediately felt anger,\u201d he said. \u201cAnger that similar experiences I\u2019d had were now being cast on to Ran. A man for as long as I could remember was completely selfless, kind and abided by an excellent moral code.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added that he had visited various care homes hoping to find Fiennes \u201cto have a simple conversation with him, or to be able to take him for a brief coffee\u201d, but had so far been unsuccessful and had \u201cleft with a feeling of dismay and a slightly emptier heart\u201d.<\/p>\n

Millington-Cotes said that any excess funds would be donated to Marie Curie and the British Heart Foundation, favoured charities of Fiennes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The stepson of Sir Ranulph Fiennes has launched a crowdfunder to pay for \u201cspecialist legal advice\u201d in an…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":628395,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[146,85,46],"class_list":["post-628394","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-entertainment","tag-il","tag-israel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/628394","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=628394"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/628394\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/628395"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=628394"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=628394"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=628394"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}