Sir Ranulph Fiennes' sister-in-law, Arabella Pepper, went undercover at the care home where the explorer was staying after losing all contact with him, she told BBC Newsnight. Speaking to presenter Victoria Derbyshire, Arabella – the younger sister of Fiennes' first wife Ginny – admitted that although she now has “no idea” where he is being housed, she did manage to see him for “an hour” in 2025.
Undercover visit to care home
Pepper had to check herself into the care home her brother-in-law was staying in, as she was not allowed to visit. Fiennes went 'missing' and was allegedly kept in a care home “under a false name”, with his wife Louise Millington-Cotes as his legal guardian.
Pepper explained: “I managed to see him for an hour last year, in July, and a few other people have seen him briefly last year. All his friends and family want to see him and take him Toblerones, but we don’t know where he is. He’s not available; he’s not accessible; that’s what worries us.”
How the visit was arranged
She explained: “Somebody, very cleverly, managed to find out where he was, because we had no idea. We’d had no idea where he was since October 2024. People who were in England tried to go and see him and were sent away.
“So a friend called Mike suggested that I [check] into the care home. It took me a while to think that through and agree, but I went. I booked myself in, spoke to them, I told them my name and my address, and then I was 67 falling to pieces and now I’m 68 and falling to more pieces. It was perfectly legitimate for me to go for a week’s respite care.”
The meeting and his message
When she finally saw Ranulph at breakfast on the “third or fourth day”, Pepper explained: “We had an hour together and then he was taken off for a walk around the park.
“He was fine. He was absolutely fine. He was thin and frail, but the humour was intact, his memory was fine. He was just Ran. He said to me, ‘I’m fine in the mornings, but at lunchtime I start to get a bit fuzzy’. He was self-aware. It was a lovely meeting.”
As for the message he wanted to get out to friends and family, his sister-in-law told Derbyshire: “The first thing I said to him, apart from the usual greetings, was that everybody was worried about him and was looking for him and wanted to see him. The relief on his face was very obvious.
“He said, ‘Send a message to everybody. Send them my love. Tell them I love them and tell them I’m longing to see them’. Those were his words to me. I have no reason to doubt him.”
