Sir Ranulph Fiennes’ actor cousin Joseph secretly visited him at care home

Sir Ranulph Fiennes’ actor cousin secretly visited him at a care home last year, it has been revealed. 

Joseph Fiennes, who starred alongside the British explorer in the documentary Fiennes: Return to the Wild, made the covert trip in July last year. 

He was there on the same day as when the 82-year-old’s former sister-in-law, Arabella Pepper, visited him at the luxury KYN Hurlingham care home in west London. 

Sir Ranulph, who has Parkinson’s disease, was reportedly staying under the name ‘Ron Westwood’.  

Pepper told The Times the explorer’s ‘face just lit up like a spotlight’ when he came out of the lift and saw the Shakespeare In Love actor. 

‘He was so thrilled to see him,’ she said, before the pair moved into a private room with their artist cousin, Susannah Fiennes, who had also come to see Sir Ranulph, endearingly known as ‘Ran’ to his relatives. 

The Daily Mail exclusively revealed yesterday that Sir Ranulph is believed to be back home at his isolated farm in Shropshire, with the property hidden behind a 6ft-high ‘industrial’ security gate.  

In January this year, Joseph wrote to the Office of the Public Guardian to raise concerns that Sir Ranulph was being cut off from his friends and family. 

Sir Ranulph is pictured here with his cousin, actor Joseph Fiennes, on the Athabasca Glacier during their Fiennes: Return to the Wild documentary

Sir Ranulph Fiennes has not been seen in public since a gala evening organised in his honour by the Royal Geographical Society in October 2024

A frail Sir Ranulph walks with a frame in what looks like a stable or barn with his wife at his side directing him

He told The Telegraph: ‘If that happens to Ran, I can’t bear to think how many others that has happened to and is happening to.

‘It throws up vital questions, including questions for care homes and legal services.’ 

‘All his friends and family want to see him and take him Toblerones and cheer him up, but we don’t know where he is, and he’s not available, he’s not accessible – that’s what worries us,’ Pepper told BBC Newsnight.

She had admitted herself to the care home where she had been told Sir Ranulph was staying.

She said ‘the relief on his face was very obvious’ when she saw him.

Pepper told him ‘everybody was worried about him, was looking for him’ and he said to her in response, ‘send a message to everybody, send them my love, tell them I love them and tell them I’m longing to see them’. 

It was revealed last week that the retired explorer and author has been staying in various care facilities under a false name, on the instructions of his wife Louise Millington-Cotes.

Pepper claimed that his wife has been making demands for friends and family to sign non-disclosure agreements when trying to arrange visits to see Sir Ranulph.  

His whereabouts first became a mystery when he failed to appear in person at a gala in his honour in 2024.

Sir Ranulph’s stepson Alexander Millington-Cotes launched a crowdfunding appeal to start putting together a legal case against his mother in order to remove the power of attorney. 

He told the BBC: ‘He’s not an isolated type of person, and so to see him isolated now is very painful.’

While in a care home in rural Wales, Louise Millington-Cotes is said to have enforced draconian measures that mean Sir Ranulph must be kept in his room, must not socialise with anyone and must not spend time in communal spaces.

Most importantly, on the occasions he needed to leave his quarters – when being taken for a walk, for example – he was required to wear sunglasses, hat and gloves in case he was recognised.

Sir Ranulph Fiennes and his wife Lady Louise after he returned to Britain following a failed attempt to climb Everest in 2005

Sir Ranulph is pictured here during his attempt to walk solo across Antarctica to the South Pole in aid of the Breast Cancer Campaign

And documents, seen by the Daily Mail, showed the worried care home owner raised concerns about unorthodox medication arrangements put in place by Lady Fiennes and the validity of a ‘Do Not Resuscitate’ document that she had provided.

The stunning revelations have led to outrage from Sir Ranulph’s family who are demanding an immediate investigation into his living arrangements.

They have also accused the Office of the Public Guardian of ignoring repeated requests to look into the explorer’s welfare.

Pepper told The Telegraph that reports about the physical wellbeing of Sir Ranulph were ‘very worrying’.

She said: ‘We – Ran’s family and close friends – have been very concerned for his safety and mental wellbeing [and the fact he has] been isolated for so long.

‘Reports of his physical wellbeing are also very worrying. He’s a tough fellow, but he’s only human. The sooner the OPG moves, the better.’

Sir Ranulph was last seen in public at a gala evening organised in his honour by the Royal Geographical Society in October 2024, when he appeared in a brief, pre-recorded video apologising for not being ‘well enough’ to attend in person.

Some of his closest friends have been trying to contact him, mostly without success, ever since and have grown increasingly concerned about him and his whereabouts.

They were disclosed this week by Sir Ranulph’s friend of more than 30 years, Michael Kobold, who was contacted by a source after they saw the new accommodation being put up at his Shropshire home.

‘Louise [Lady Fiennes] told the source that her husband had a car accident which was why he was in a wheelchair,’ Mr Kobold explained.

‘She also introduced his carer as the blacksmith for the horses,’ he added.

In another development, footage has emerged of Sir Ranulph for the first time since concerns were raised.

The clip shows a frail Sir Ranulph in chinos and a blue jacket walking in what looks like a stable or barn with his wife at his side directing him.

She tells him: ‘Stand up straight, that’s it, walk between the wheels, nice and straight.’

Then she sings ‘heigh ho, heigh ho, it’s off to work we go’ from Disney’s Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs. As the clip ends, Lady Fiennes can be heard saying again: ‘That’s it, stand up straight, back up. There we go. Do not hit anything.’

The video was posted yesterday by Mr Kobold. He also added an image showing him sitting in an armchair wearing a woolly hat and covered by a blanket, holding what looked like a bed pan.

He wrote on social media: ‘Sir Ranulph Fiennes, broken and frail, after two years of strict isolation. It’s a national disgrace: How can the system fail so egregiously that even a national treasure like Ran Fiennes can experience such mistreatment?’

Mr Kobold – who climbed Mount Everest with Sir Ranulph almost 20 years ago – launched his attack after the Daily Mail spoke to the Welsh care home boss where the explorer had been living.

The manager said he had contacted police and the Office of the Public Guardian in March to raise his concerns. But before any action could be taken, Sir Ranulph was moved.

There is no suggestion Lady Fiennes has done anything wrong, but the Care Inspectorate of Wales found her husband was being unlawfully ‘deprived of his liberty’ because she didn’t have the authorisation which covered his residence.

It has also now emerged that King Charles has taken an interest in the case as Sir Ranulph is a close personal friend.

The King’s equerry was reportedly told to ‘back off’ when he contacted Lady Louise.