King Charles blocked in attempt to contact Sir Ranulph Fiennes

King Charles III tried to check on his old friend Sir Ranulph Fiennes and was blocked by the explorer's wife.

The Telegraph said what it described as what it had learnt, in an exclusive published on 27 September. The account was summarised by Hello Magazine on 28 September, which said the King had become "most concerned" about Sir Ranulph's declining health and isolation.

The King and Sir Ranulph have been friends for more than 45 years, dating back to at least the late 1970s. Sir Ranulph is 82, a retired explorer who has Parkinson's disease. He has not been seen in public since late 2024.

The Palace was alerted in writing. Anton Bowring, who served with Sir Ranulph on the Transglobe Expedition between 1979 and 1982, wrote in February last year to the King's private secretary, Sir Clive Alderton, the senior aide who runs the King's official office. He told Sir Clive that Sir Ranulph was "in a very poor state" and had been under his wife's care since the previous September.

After that letter, the King's equerry, the officer who handles the King's communications and engagements, asked Sir Ranulph's side how the King could get in touch. He was given a telephone number for Louise Millington-Cotes, Sir Ranulph's second wife and legal guardian. Contact did not follow.

Mrs Millington-Cotes is a horse trainer from Cheshire. She is 23 years younger than Sir Ranulph. The Telegraph reported on 25 September that she had stopped Sir Ranulph from receiving visitors.

The wider family dispute is now public. A watchdog concluded Sir Ranulph was "unlawfully deprived of his liberty" when his wife placed him in a care home, according to a Telegraph exclusive published on 25 September. Loved ones have said they do not know his current whereabouts, amid reports that he was moved between care homes under different names.

Sir Ranulph's family has demanded an urgent investigation into his care. The family also claimed police did not act on requests to check on his welfare, as reported by The Sun on 27 September. His stepson, Alexander Millington-Cotes, has spoken out publicly against his mother and started a GoFundMe appeal to fund a legal challenge over her power of attorney, the legal authority to make decisions on Sir Ranulph's behalf.