Ran Fiennes family demands urgent care investigation

Family and friends of Ran Fiennes are demanding that the Office of the Public Guardian urgently investigate whether his wife is properly discharging her lasting power of attorney, after a Welsh care watchdog found the 82-year-old explorer was being unlawfully deprived of his liberty in care homes.

Sir Ranulph Fiennes, long celebrated as one of Britain’s greatest living explorers, has not been seen in public for two years. Reporting by The Independent and The Telegraph says relatives and friends now want the Office of the Public Guardian (OPG) to test whether Louise Millington-Cotes, 59, is correctly carrying out her duties as his legal guardian.

The dispute sits at the sharp end of lasting power of attorney (LPA) oversight, a theme that also matters for readers following later-life planning coverage in our Wealth Hacks & Passive Income hub. The OPG itself stresses that an LPA lets a trusted person decide about care and finances when someone lacks capacity—and that it cannot comment on individual cases.

Key Takeaways

• Family and friends of Ran Fiennes want an urgent OPG probe into his wife’s use of lasting power of attorney.
• Care Inspectorate Wales found he was being unlawfully deprived of liberty because required safeguards were absent.
• A Welsh care-home owner raised wellbeing concerns with authorities, including police, over medication and a “do not resuscitate” document.
• Stepson Alexander Millington-Cotes says he contacted the OPG safeguarding team and has heard nothing back so far.
• He is crowdfunding a legal challenge to his mother’s lasting power of attorney after being told his stepfather was not at a Cheshire home.

What happened to Ran Fiennes’s care arrangements?

According to The Telegraph, Sir Ranulph, 82, has been placed in a succession of care homes by his wife since his last public appearance. Coverage describes stays in London, then about seven weeks in Wales at the start of this year, followed by a move to Cheshire.

It has been reported that he was registered under a false name and that visitors to a London home were required to sign non-disclosure agreements. Those close to him say extreme conditions were placed on how he was looked after, and that friends and family were kept from seeing him. Since the start of this year, The Telegraph reported, Mrs Millington-Cotes has refused to tell relatives and friends where he is.

A care-home owner in Wales said Mrs Millington-Cotes supplied a private carer, gave staff strict day-to-day instructions, and provided all medication rather than registering him with a local GP. The owner told The Telegraph they reported several wellbeing concerns to the authorities, including the police.

Concerns put to the OPG reportedly included unorthodox medical arrangements—The Telegraph cited drugs prescribed in her name—and the validity of a “do not resuscitate” document she provided. The Independent said it was unable to contact Mrs Millington-Cotes for comment.

Why are relatives calling for an OPG investigation?

Those close to Ran Fiennes want the OPG to establish whether his wife is correctly discharging her guardian duties. His stepson, Alexander Millington-Cotes—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”.

Veteran BBC correspondent John Simpson, a friend of Sir Ranulph, joined the call for transparency. On X he wrote that he was “horrified” at what had happened to “my good friend Ran Fiennes,” offered to tell authorities what he knows, and said the explorer is “vulnerable” and that “we must know what’s happening to him.”

Alexander Millington-Cotes visited a Cheshire care home 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, according to The Independent. The Times has separately framed the stepson as seeking to end his mother’s power over care.

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 Telegraph noted the OPG can investigate complaints about guardians failing in their responsibilities and that it investigated around 3,000 LPA-related concerns last year—but had not investigated this case so far at the time of its report.

What did Care Inspectorate Wales conclude?

The Welsh care-home owner sought advice from Care Inspectorate Wales after Mrs Millington-Cotes, granted lasting power of attorney in 2024 according to The Telegraph, was told she must ensure a deprivation of liberty safeguards (DoLS) order was in place and failed to provide one despite reminders.

In an email seen by The Telegraph and quoted by The Independent, the inspectorate wrote that Sir Ranulph was “being deprived of his liberty unlawfully as there is no authorised deprivation in place which reflects the current residence and restrictions in place.”

It added that he “is under continuous supervision and control, is not free to leave and is not able to consent to care, treatment and accommodation,” and that the provider needed to make an urgent and standard DoLS application “as soon as practicable.”

The owner said they emailed Mrs Millington-Cotes to stress the urgency, which led to “a falling out with her because she didn’t want us to apply for a DoLS.” Care Inspectorate Wales was approached for comment by The Independent.

What happens next in the power-of-attorney fight?

For now, the family’s demand is clear: an urgent OPG look at whether Louise Millington-Cotes is properly using her lasting power of attorney over Ran Fiennes’s care. Parallel to that, the stepson is raising funds for a court challenge to that LPA after being unable to locate his stepfather at the Cheshire home.

The case has drawn public attention because of Fiennes’s stature and because it spotlights how LPA powers—covering care and money when capacity is lost—depend on oversight when relatives and care providers raise red flags. Friends and relations shut out of contact are pressing for action after watchdog language about unlawful deprivation of liberty.

No finding of criminal wrongdoing has been reported in the coverage summarised here, and Mrs Millington-Cotes’s side has not been publicly set out in the Independent’s reporting. Until the OPG or the courts speak further, the verified picture remains the family’s call for investigation, the Welsh inspectorate’s DoLS findings as reported, and the stepson’s bid to challenge control of his stepfather’s care.