What Happened Next: The Night The Activist Group Beamed Images of Trump and Epstein on to Windsor Castle
When plans were revealed for the former president's second state visit, complete with a Windsor Castle banquet on September 17th, 2025, the protest group Led By Donkeys was determined not to let it pass unprotested. The gesture of rolling out the red carpet seemed especially servile. Their subsequent art-activist event proceeded like clockwork.
A Provocative Film
The group produced a short documentary detailing Donald Trump’s relationship with notorious figure Jeffrey Epstein. It concluded: “The commander-in-chief of the United States is alleged to have been a longstanding associate of the nation's most infamous child sex trafficker. His name is said to be referenced, repeatedly, in the files from the criminal probe into that individual … Now that president, Donald Trump, is a guest within Windsor Castle.” (For his part, Trump maintains he ended his friendship with Epstein long prior to Epstein’s initial legal troubles and repeatedly refuted any wrongdoing concerning Epstein.)
The Setup
The group had booked rooms in the adjacent Harte and Garter hotel, rooms advertised with views of the castle and, even more helpfully, “castle view superior”, according to a co-founder, Ben Stewart. Their equipment included a powerful 32,000-lumen projector. For audio, Stewart positioned a wireless speaker, hidden within a box of cereal, atop a public rubbish bin outside.
International press had gathered, staring at the castle, becoming bored as Trump was delayed. Their film, spread rapidly globally. “Although photographs of Epstein and Trump spread like wildfire online,” Stewart notes, “I doubt that persuades anyone of anything – it just makes Trump uneasy. The film we made provides viewers a social object to share, saying: ‘There’s something significant to examine here.’ We took an act of activist journalism about Trump and Epstein, and it was seen by millions.”
The Reveal
The film began with the recognizable Windsor Castle logo. “Projecting onto a cylindrical building needs a little bit of mapping,” Stewart states. “First appeared this royal crest. Officers likely thought: ‘How pleasant – the royal family,’ and suddenly a great big picture of Jeffrey Epstein appears. This electric jolt passed through the officers nearby, and the police all pile into the hotel.”
A History of Activism
It wasn't their inaugural action; nor was it their first action targeting Trump. In 2018, while working for Greenpeace, Stewart had flown a motorized paraglider over the resort where the then-president was staying during a visit to Turnberry. A year later, officers warned him that any repeat, they couldn’t guarantee.
The Arrests
However, the activists were not especially worried about arrest. “My nervous energy is channelled into wanting the protest works,” notes Oliver Knowles, a fellow founder. “By the time the police arrive, the message is already out.” The police response was rapid, arriving in the lobby in under three minutes, highly agitated, he remembers. “They were in jumpsuits and caps. They’d finally found the culprits. They charged up the stairs; prepared; they were on a mission to safeguard the guest. Fortunately, no firearms. But they were very adrenalised upon entering the room. I told them: ‘Let’s keep this really calm.’”
Delaying multiple police officers for six minutes. It helped that they were unsure which law to make arrests. Upon finally entering the room, “a policeman started reading a clause of the Town and Country Planning Act, before another asked him to stop because it wasn’t right.” Knowles and three additional activists were then arrested for malicious communications, a law related to harassment. “and it’s very specific: it’s designed to deal with a serious offence. To throw it at a piece of journalism, projected on to a wall, to protect the reputation of the president, appeared against the spirit of the legislation,” Stewart says archly. While the others were detained, he melted into the crowd, shortly thereafter was on a train out of Windsor, contacting legal counsel.
An Ironic Interrogation
Some time that night, as the detainees sat in cells at Maidenhead police station, police re-entered and re-arrested them, now for public nuisance, deeming it a stronger charge. When they came to be questioned, the only officers available were from the child protection unit – a twist which was palpable, given the subject matter of the protest concerned alleged sex offender. Knowles and his associates just answered all queries with: “I have no comment.” Shortly after starting the interview, the officers slid over a photograph: “‘Mr Knowles, did you take the drawer from this nightstand?’ ‘No comment.’ ‘Sir, do you know anyone who may have had cause to take the drawer?’ ‘No comment.’ I anticipated what was coming: a picture of a large projector, secured to four drawers. At that point, the detectives struggled to keep a straight face.”
The Outcome
A little more than a month later, every charge were dropped.