MISSING PERSON: SIR RANULPH FIENNES

"I just want to know if Ran is still alive," Arabella Pepper told me a few days ago. The sister of Virginia Fiennes, the late wife of explorer Sir Ranulph Fiennes, last heard from her brother-in-law during a 1-hour meeting in an exclusive London care home. "He told me he feels lonely, that he misses his friends and family, that he's afraid of contacting anyone because (REDACTED) monitors his phone calls, and that he has been left without money or credit cards and can't even buy himself a bar of chocolate," Arabella continued.

This meeting was the result of a conspiracy between Arabella and me to short-circuit the elaborate protocol designed by Ran's (REDACTED) to isolate him from his friends and family. What Ran subsequently conveyed to Araballa gave us great concern. A millionaire, he was left penniless, unable to buy even the most basic necessities, entirely reliant on the staff at KYN Hurlingham. According to Arabella, the staff could not have been more attentive and professional. However, what occurred next left us stunned and even more concerned for Ran's wellbeing.

Shortly after the meeting, Ran was removed from the communal area by the staff of KYN Hurlingham in an effort to forestall any further interaction between him and Arabella, who is his closest relative and whom Ran considers his little sister. For the rest of her weeklong stay, Arabella never saw or heard from Ran again. She checked his room on several occasions and found it to be empty. A senior KYN Hurlingham staff member informed her that Ran had been removed from the facility after his (REDACTED) had been alerted to the situation.

After her stay had concluded and she returned home to Romania, Arabella was contacted by a resident at KYN Hurlinham whom she had befriended. She told Arabella that Ran had been at KYN Hurlingham the entire week and that he was isolated in a separate room. Now that Arabella had departed KYN Hurlingham, Ran was back in his usual room and openly perusing the facility's communal spaces.

Following this episode, Ran was visited by a small handful of old friends, all of whom signed non-disclosure agreements as stipulated by (REDACTED). However, these visits ended shortly thereafter and since the autumn of 2025 Ran has received no visitors.

"We don't know his location," one of the friends who did visit Ran admitted when we spoke by telephone. "We hope he's okay. (REDACTED) might have moved him to another location, perhaps even outside the country," the old friend continued.

That a national hero like Ran Fiennes could end up in such a predicament is shocking. However, the fact that seemingly no-one, including the media, are inclined to shed light on and remedy the situation is at least as cruel a punishment as what (REDACTED) has bestowed upon the explorer.

Since becoming aware of the situation in February 2025, I had advocated to make Ran's plight public. We'd been good friends for almost 30 years, shared many adventures together, including hunting Nazi war criminals together with Simon Wiesenthal, climbing in the Swiss Alps, as well as the 2008 and 2009 expeditions to Mount Everest. Ran also became brand-ambassador-in-chief of my brand of watches. I always called him "Uncle Ran." We are godfathers to each other's daughters.

However, no matter with whom I spoke within Ran's orbit, no-one agreed with my point of view that something must be done to help Ran.

This is perhaps due to the fact that I am the only person other than Ran's daughter and stepson, Alexander, who has witnessed the ill treatment he receives at the hands of (REDACTED). In 2008, I spent about six months living in Ran's various homes. During this time, I witnessed a number of crimes committed against Ran, including blackmail, extortion, and other forms of coercive control. Despite his public persona as a fearless explorer, I found Ran terrified of (REDACTED).

Back in 2008, I emailed myself the details of these episodes and subsequently met with some of Ran's closest friends and relatives to make them aware of his predicament. Yet despite raising one red flag after another, nobody seemed interested in changing the status quo.

Susannah Fiennes, the King's official portrait artist, told me plainly "Ran made his bed, now he has to sleep in it." (Years later, Susannah severely admonished Arabella shortly after she met her brother-in-law at KYN Hurlingham.) "We are a very private family, Michael. We don't want to have this situation become an embarrassment for us," she told me after admonishing me for what she perceived as a particularly imprudent idea: To ask King Charles to help his old friend. "A very private family," Susannah repeated.

Joe Fiennes, the actor who had become close with Ran in recent years, was more amenable to helping Ran. He had visited a number of London care homes and phoned around in an effort to find his cousin. Yet after speaking with Susannah, Joe also withdrew his support to make Ran's situation public.

However, the fate of Sir Ranulph Fiennes, the octogenarian explorer, is a matter of supreme public interest: Elder abuse is prevalent throughout society and receives very little media attention. Unwittingly, Ran has become the posterchild of elder abuse and coercive control.

I filed complaints with the Office of the Public Guardian, the Safeguarding Teams of Ran's hometown and in the London borough where KYN Hurlingham is located. They visited Ran and assessed him, only to report back that there was nothing that could be done because he had given (REDACTED) power of attorney and informed the officers that he was happy with this arrangement.

Yet this is exactly the opposite that Ran told (REDACTED), an old friend in whom he confided that he severely regretted his decision. Another close friend told me that he had spoken with Ran for many years about the power of attorney question and his last will and testament. Ran had always been adamant about not giving (REDACTED) power of attorney or amending his will. Yet as if by some magic, within weeks of an incident that left him wheel chair-bound, Ran reversed his decision on both matters, much to the consternation of his closest friends - all of whom now seem complicit by way of maintaining their silence on this matter.

"Have they all gone mad," Eva Erben said with incredulity in her voice. The 96-year-old Holocaust survivor had become Ran's and my friend in 2001, when we worked on tracking down a group of Nazi war criminals on the lam. The story was the basis of The Secret Hunters, Ran's bestseller that was released later that year. Eva and I had kept in touch over the years and in my frustration I rang her up in Ashkelon, Israel. She agreed that something must be done to help Ran. "He is such a good human being," Eva said. "No-one deserves such cruelty, but especially not him." To hear these words from a survivor of the Holocaust gave me some much-needed inspiration.

Lady Fiennes, as Arabella Pepper's sister Ginny was known, would have never approved of doing nothing about this situation. According to Arabella, her sister would have moved heaven and earth to help her embattled soulmate. It was Ginny who had the idea for Ran's greatest success, the Transglobe Expedition, during which Ran and Charlie Burton became the first people to circumnavigate the earth via its polar axis.

In September 2024, shortly before the Transglobe Expedition's reunion at the Royal Geographical Society (RGS) in London, where Ginny and Ran would have been feted for their extraordinary achievement, Ran got severely injured in a fall down the stairs in his home. According to Arabella, it's not unreasonable to question whether this fall was purely an accident. As a result of his injuries, Ran has been confined to a wheel chair and was precluded from participating in the Transglobe event at the RGS.

Shortly thereafter, he gave power of attorney to (REDACTED) and changed his will. I am in possession of a copy of the original will, a result of Ran being concerned that someone might alter it behind his back. He handed it to me the evening before he climbed up Mount Everest in 2008. (He also handed me a signed document appointing me as his official media representative and another document stating that I am permitted to live on his property, Greenlands, as his guest and that (REDACTED) must not be permitted to remove me from Greenlands.)

In 2025, after all my efforts to help Ran failed, I wrote a letter to His Majesty King Charles III apprising him of Ran's situation. A relative of the King whom I befriended decades ago, personally conveyed the message to His Majesty. As a result, King Charles entrusted his personal equerry to look into this matter. The equerry made some preliminary inquiries and was informed by Ran's closest friend, Anton Bowing, that there was nothing to be concerned about. He then provided the equerry with the telephone number of (REDACTED). According to Anton Bowring, this resulted in (REDACTED) plainly informing the equerry that Ran wished to have no contact with His Majesty. In reality, however, nothing could be further from the truth.

Alexander Millington, Ran's stepson, joined Arabella's and my campaign to free Ran in the autumn of 2025. There are now the three of us versus a great many people who for various reasons have something to gain by aiding (REDACTED) in the coercive control exercised over one of the most inspiring men the United Kingdom has produced.

The chances of success, however, are very slim.

Alex Diggins. a reporter with the Daily Telegraph, has been investigating this story for many months. Highly motivated and capable, Alex has been interviewing all of Ran's old friends and relatives. When we spoke a few weeks ago, Alex told me that he was hopeful a story might come out by the end of the year. "Let's reconnect in November," he said.

Yet this September marks the two-year anniversary since Ranulph Fiennes has been seen or heard from, with very short and highly staged/restricted exceptions. Hence, I have decided to at long last make Ran's predicament public.

It's time to unveil a secret: My friend of almost 30 years has gone missing and nobody besides a tiny handful of individuals seems to want to do anything to change this disgraceful status quo.

Recently, I contacted a number of the most feared and respected law firms in the U.K. to see about attacking the situation through the legal process. "It's frightfully expensive," one lawyer told me. Quotes ranged from 50,000 to 200,000 British pounds. Even for a watch company, such numbers are staggering. However, I have decided that helping Ran is worth the cost.

In order to underwrite this legal campaign, I am making 200 Kobold watches available at a steep discount - unheard of in the brand's nearly 30-year history! A Kobold Seal in titanium, designed by the late actor James Gandolfini, normally sells for $6,000+. This iconic diver's watch is available at only $2,000. In stainless steel, the same watch is available at $1,250.

A Kobold Polar Surveyor Chronograph in titanium, designed by Ran Fiennes himself, has a regular price of $11,000+ and is available at only $3,000.

Finally, the Kobold Limits is available at $950. 

100 of each model are available at these vastly reduced prices. 300 watches to help sustain the campaign to locate the man who put Kobold on the map and secure his freedom: If you're looking for a solid watch to back a kick-ass cause, this is an opportunity you don't want to miss.

If you're unable to afford a handmade timepiece, please help the effort by sharing this article. In doing so, you'll do your part to lift the veil of secrecy. To remain silent is to be complicit with a case of elder abuse in the form of coercive control.