What Happened Next: The Evening The Activist Group Beamed Pictures Featuring Trump and Epstein onto Windsor Castle
When plans were revealed for the former president's upcoming official trip, complete with a Windsor Castle banquet on September 17th, 2025, the protest group Led By Donkeys was determined to ensure it did not go unprotested. The gesture of offering a lavish welcome seemed particularly craven. Their subsequent art-activist event proceeded like clockwork.
A Provocative Film
Activists created a short documentary detailing Donald Trump’s relationship with the late financier Jeffrey Epstein. It concluded: “The president of the United States was a long-time close friend of America’s most notorious sex offender. His name is said to be referenced, numerous times, in documents from the criminal probe into Epstein … Now that very man, Donald Trump, is sleeping here in Windsor Castle.” (For his part, Trump has stated he fell out with Epstein years before Epstein’s first arrest and repeatedly refuted all allegations concerning Epstein.)
Preparations and Execution
The activists had secured rooms in the nearby Harte and Garter hotel, which boast views of the castle and, even more helpfully, “castle view superior”, according to a co-founder, Ben Stewart. Their equipment included a high-lumen 32,000-lumen projector. To broadcast sound, Stewart placed a wireless speaker, hidden inside a cereal box, atop a public rubbish bin outside.
The world’s media was assembled, their gaze fixed at the castle, growing restless as Trump was delayed. The film, however, spread rapidly globally. “Although the still pictures of Epstein and Trump went viral online,” Stewart notes, “I doubt that convinces people of anything – it simply makes Trump uneasy. The film we made gives people something tangible to share, implying: ‘This is something significant to examine here.’ We took an act of activist journalism about Trump and Epstein, and it was seen by millions.”
The Moment of Projection
It started with the official Windsor Castle logo. “It requires the castle's round tower requires a little bit of mapping,” Stewart states. “So there’s this royal crest. Officers likely thought: ‘How pleasant – the royal family,’ and then abruptly a massive image of Jeffrey Epstein materializes. This electric jolt goes through the officers around me, and they all pile into the hotel.”
A History of Activism
It wasn't the group’s first rodeo; it wasn’t even their first action against Trump. Back in 2018, while working for Greenpeace, Stewart had flown a paraglider near the hotel where the president was staying in Scotland. A year later, police visited him that if he tried again, they couldn’t guarantee.
Confrontation with Police
However, the group's creators weren't especially worried about detainment. “My nervous energy goes into ensuring the action to succeed,” says Oliver Knowles, another co-founder. “Once the police make the intervention, the die is cast.” The police response was swift, arriving in the lobby in under three minutes, highly agitated, he remembers. “They were in tactical gear and baseball caps. They’d finally found the culprits. They came roaring up the stairs; they were briefed; tasked to protect the president. Thankfully, no guns. But they were very adrenalised when they entered the room. I had to say: ‘Let’s keep this calm.’”
Stalling multiple police officers is a long time. The fact that officers were unsure under what law to make arrests. Upon finally entering the room, “a policeman began reciting a section of the Town and Country Planning Act, before another told him to stop because it wasn’t right.” Knowles and three other team members were subsequently detained for malicious communication, a stalking law. “and it’s very specific: its purpose is to deal with a serious offence. To throw it at an act of journalism, projected on to a wall, in defense of the reputation of the president, appeared contrary to the intent of the legislation,” Stewart says archly. As his colleagues were arrested, he slipped away, shortly thereafter was on a train out of Windsor, calling lawyers.
An Ironic Interrogation
Later that night, while the activists were in the cells at Maidenhead police station, police re-entered and re-arrested them, now for public nuisance, having decided a stronger charge. During interrogation, the only officers available belonged to the child protection unit – an irony which was not lost on anyone, given the subject matter of the protest involved Jeffrey Epstein. The activists just answered all queries with: “I have no comment.” Shortly after starting the interview, the officers slid over a photograph: “‘Mr Knowles, did you remove the drawer from this bedside table?’ ‘No comment.’ ‘Mr Knowles, do you know anybody else who may have had cause to take the drawer?’ ‘No comment.’ I knew what was coming: an image of a giant projector, ratchet-strapped to several drawers. Then, the detectives were finding it hard to keep a straight face.”
The Final Result
A little more than a month later, all charges were dropped.
