The Unfolding Events: 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 17 September 2025, the activist collective known as Led By Donkeys felt compelled to ensure it did not go without a statement. The act of rolling out the red carpet seemed especially servile. Their subsequent creative protest unfolded with precision.
A Deliberate Message
The group produced a short documentary detailing the connections with the late financier Jeffrey Epstein. It concluded: “The commander-in-chief of the United States is alleged to have been a long-time close friend of the nation's most infamous child sex trafficker. He’s alleged to be mentioned, repeatedly, in the files from the criminal probe into that individual … Now that president, Donald Trump, is a guest in Windsor Castle.” (For his part, Trump has stated he ended his friendship with Epstein long prior to Epstein’s first arrest and repeatedly refuted all allegations concerning Epstein.)
Preparations and Execution
The activists had secured rooms in the adjacent Harte and Garter hotel, rooms advertised with “castle view” and, more crucially, superior castle views, according to group founder, Ben Stewart. They utilized a high-lumen projector. For audio, Stewart placed a Bluetooth speaker, hidden within a box of cereal, atop a public rubbish bin outside.
The world’s media had gathered, their gaze fixed 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 simply makes Trump uncomfortable. The film we made gives people something tangible to share, implying: ‘This is something really serious to look at here.’ It was a piece of guerrilla journalism about Trump and Epstein, and it was seen 20m times.”
The Moment of Projection
The film began with the recognizable Windsor Castle logo. “Projecting onto a cylindrical building requires some technical calibration,” Stewart explains. “So there’s the royal coat of arms. Officers are thinking: ‘Ah, that’s nice – the royal family,’ and suddenly a great big picture of Jeffrey Epstein appears. This electric jolt passed through the police in fluorescent jackets nearby, and the police all pile into the hotel.”
A History of Activism
It wasn't the group’s first rodeo; it wasn’t even their first effort targeting Trump. Back in 2018, while working for Greenpeace, Stewart piloted a motorized paraglider over the resort where the then-president was staying in Scotland. The following year, police visited him that any repeat, they couldn’t guarantee.
The Arrests
However, the group's creators weren't overly concerned about detainment. “All my anxiety is channelled into ensuring the protest works,” says Oliver Knowles, a fellow founder. “By the time the police make the intervention, the message is already out.” Officers was swift, arriving in the lobby within three minutes, highly agitated, he remembers. “They were in jumpsuits and baseball caps. They had located some protesters. They charged up the stairs; they were briefed; they were on a mission to safeguard the guest. Thankfully, no guns. But they were extremely tense upon entering the room. I had to say: ‘Let’s keep this calm.’”
Delaying multiple police officers is a long time. It helped that they were unsure under what law to charge anyone. When they finally entered the room, “one officer started reading a section of the Town and Country Planning Act, which another officer told him to stop as it was incorrect.” Knowles and three additional team members were subsequently detained for malicious communication, a law related to harassment. “The law is precise: its purpose is to deal with a really concerning offence. Applying it to an act of journalism, displayed on 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 melted into the crowd, then soon after was on a train out of Windsor, contacting legal counsel.
An Ironic Interrogation
Later in the middle of the night, while the activists were in the cells at Maidenhead police station, officers came in and re-arrested them, this time for public nuisance, having decided more likely to succeed. When they came to be questioned, the only officers available were from the child protection squad – an irony that was palpable, given the subject matter of the protest concerned Jeffrey Epstein. The activists just answered every question with: “No comment.” A few minutes into the interview, the officers slid over a photograph: “‘Mr Knowles, did you remove the drawer from this bedside table?’ ‘No comment.’ ‘Sir, do you know anybody else who may have had cause to take the drawer?’ ‘No comment.’ I knew the next move: a picture of a giant projector, secured to four drawers. At that point, the officers were finding it hard to keep a straight face.”
The Final Result
A little more than a month later, all charges were dropped.
