The Unfolding Events: The Evening The Activist Group Beamed Images of Trump and Epstein onto Windsor Castle
When the announcement was made for Donald Trump’s second state visit, including a royal dinner at Windsor on September 17th, 2025, the protest group known as Led By Donkeys was determined to ensure it did not go without a statement. The gesture of offering a lavish welcome seemed particularly craven. Their next art-activist event unfolded like clockwork.
A Provocative Film
The group produced a short documentary exploring the connections with the late financier Jeffrey Epstein. Its ending stated: “The commander-in-chief of the United States was a longstanding associate of the nation's most infamous sex offender. He’s alleged to be referenced, numerous times, in documents related to the investigation into Epstein … Now that very man, Donald Trump, is a guest in Windsor Castle.” (In response, Trump maintains he ended his friendship with Epstein long prior to Epstein’s initial legal troubles and repeatedly refuted all allegations in relation to Epstein.)
The Setup
The activists had secured rooms in the adjacent Harte and Garter hotel, rooms advertised with “castle view” and, even more helpfully, superior castle views, 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 within a box of cereal, on top of a garbage can outside.
International press had gathered, their gaze fixed at the castle, growing restless awaiting Trump's arrival. The film, however, spread rapidly everywhere. “Although the still pictures of Epstein and Trump went viral online,” Stewart notes, “I doubt that convinces people of anything – it simply makes Trump uncomfortable. The film we made provides viewers a social object to share, implying: ‘There’s something significant to look at here.’ It was a piece of guerrilla journalism about Trump and Epstein, and it was seen by millions.”
The Reveal
It started with the official Windsor Castle logo. “It requires the castle's round tower requires some technical calibration,” Stewart states. “First appeared this royal crest. Officers are thinking: ‘How pleasant – a royal tribute,’ and then abruptly a great big picture of Jeffrey Epstein materializes. This electric jolt passed through the officers around me, and they all pile into the hotel.”
A History of Activism
It wasn't their inaugural action; nor was it their first effort against Trump. In 2018, during his time with Greenpeace, Stewart had flown a paraglider over the hotel where the president was staying during a visit to Turnberry. The following year, police visited him that any repeat, they couldn’t guarantee.
The Arrests
However, the group's creators were not overly concerned about detainment. “My nervous energy goes into wanting the action to succeed,” says Oliver Knowles, a fellow founder. “Once the police make the intervention, the die is cast.” The police response was rapid, arriving in the lobby in under three minutes, highly agitated, he remembers. “Wearing tactical gear 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. Fortunately, no guns. But they were extremely tense upon entering the room. I told them: ‘We should keep this calm.’”
Delaying multiple police officers is a long time. It helped that officers were unsure which law to make arrests. Upon finally entering the room, “one officer started reading a section of the Town and Country Planning Act, before another told him to stop as it was incorrect.” Knowles and three other team members were then arrested for malicious communication, a stalking law. “and it’s very specific: it’s designed to address a serious offence. Applying it to a piece of journalism, displayed on a wall, in defense of the reputation of the president, appeared against the spirit of the legislation,” Stewart says archly. While the others were detained, he slipped away, shortly thereafter was on a train leaving Windsor, calling lawyers.
An Ironic Interrogation
Some time in the middle of the night, as the detainees were in the cells at Maidenhead police station, police re-entered and re-arrested them, now for causing a public nuisance, having decided a stronger charge. When they came to be questioned, the sole available interrogators belonged to the child protection squad – a twist which was palpable, given the subject matter of the protest involved alleged sex offender. The activists just answered all queries with: “No comment.” Shortly after starting the interview, police presented a photo: “They asked, did you remove the drawer from this nightstand?’ ‘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 large projector, ratchet-strapped to four drawers. Then, the officers struggled to maintain their composure.”
The Outcome
A little more than one month later, all charges were dropped.
