The Unfolding Events: The Night The Activist Group Projected Images of Trump and Epstein on to Windsor Castle
When the announcement was made for Donald Trump’s upcoming official trip, complete with a royal dinner at Windsor on 17 September 2025, the activist collective Led By Donkeys felt compelled to ensure it did not go unprotested. The act of rolling out the red carpet was viewed as particularly craven. Their subsequent creative protest proceeded like clockwork.
A Deliberate Message
Activists created a nine-minute film detailing the connections with notorious figure Jeffrey Epstein. Its ending stated: “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 mentioned, numerous times, in the files related to the criminal probe into Epstein … Now that very man, Donald Trump, is a guest in Windsor Castle.” (For his part, Trump maintains he fell out with Epstein long prior to Epstein’s first arrest and has consistently denied any wrongdoing in relation to Epstein.)
The Setup
The activists had secured rooms in the adjacent Harte and Garter hotel, rooms advertised with views of the castle and, even more helpfully, “castle view superior”, said a co-founder, Ben Stewart. They utilized 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 awaiting Trump's arrival. The film, however, gained traction globally. “Although photographs of Epstein and Trump went viral online,” Stewart notes, “I’m not sure that persuades anyone of anything – it simply makes Trump uneasy. The film we made provides viewers a social object to share, saying: ‘There’s something really serious to look at here.’ We took an act of activist journalism about Trump and Epstein, and it was viewed by millions.”
The Moment of Projection
The film began with the recognizable Windsor Castle logo. “It requires the castle's round tower needs a little bit of mapping,” Stewart explains. “So there’s this royal crest. The police likely thought: ‘How pleasant – the royal family,’ and then abruptly a great big picture of Jeffrey Epstein materializes. This electric jolt passed through the police in fluorescent jackets around me, and they raced into the hotel.”
Not Their First Protest
This was not the group’s first rodeo; nor was it their first action against Trump. Back in 2018, during his time with Greenpeace, Stewart piloted a paraglider over the resort where the then-president was staying in Scotland. A year later, police visited him that if he tried again, they couldn’t guarantee.
The Arrests
However, the activists were not overly concerned about arrest. “My nervous energy goes into wanting the protest works,” says Oliver Knowles, another co-founder. “By the time the police make the intervention, the message is already out.” The police response was rapid, reaching the hotel in under three minutes, highly agitated, he remembers. “They were in jumpsuits and baseball caps. They’d finally found the culprits. They charged up the stairs; they were briefed; they were on a mission to protect the president. 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 for six minutes. The fact that they didn’t know 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 as it was incorrect.” Knowles and three other activists were then arrested for malicious communications, a stalking law. “The law is precise: its purpose is to address a really concerning offence. Applying it to a piece of journalism, displayed on a wall, in defense of the reputation of the president, seemed contrary to the intent of the legislation,” Stewart remarks pointedly. While the others were detained, he melted into the crowd, shortly thereafter boarded a train out of Windsor, calling lawyers.
An Ironic Interrogation
Later that night, as the detainees were in the cells at Maidenhead police station, police re-entered and arrested them again, this time for causing a public nuisance, deeming it a stronger charge. When they came to be questioned, the only officers available were from the child protection squad – a twist which was not lost on anyone, given the subject matter of the protest involved Jeffrey Epstein. The activists just answered every question 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 nightstand?’ ‘No comment.’ ‘Sir, do you know anyone who may have had cause to take the drawer?’ ‘No comment.’ I knew the next move: a picture of a large projector, ratchet-strapped to several drawers. At that point, the officers were finding it hard to maintain their composure.”
The Final Result
Just over a month later, all charges were dropped.
