The Aftermath: The Evening The Activist Group Projected Pictures Featuring Trump and Epstein on to Windsor Castle

When the announcement was made for the former president's second state visit, including a Windsor Castle banquet on 17 September 2025, the activist collective known as Led By Donkeys was determined to ensure it did not go without a statement. The gesture of offering a lavish welcome was viewed as particularly craven. Their subsequent art-activist event proceeded with precision.

A Provocative Film

The group produced a nine-minute film exploring Donald Trump’s relationship with notorious figure Jeffrey Epstein. It concluded: “The president of the United States is alleged to have been a longstanding associate of the nation's most infamous sex offender. He’s alleged to be mentioned, repeatedly, in documents from the investigation into Epstein … Now that very man, Donald Trump, is sleeping here within Windsor Castle.” (For his part, Trump has stated he fell out with Epstein years before Epstein’s initial legal troubles and repeatedly refuted any wrongdoing concerning Epstein.)

The Setup

The activists had secured rooms in the nearby Harte and Garter hotel, rooms advertised with “castle view” and, even more helpfully, superior castle views, said group founder, Ben Stewart. They utilized a powerful 32,000-lumen projector. To broadcast sound, Stewart placed a Bluetooth speaker, hidden within a box of cereal, on top of a garbage can outside.

The world’s media had gathered, staring at the castle, growing restless as Trump was delayed. Their film, spread rapidly globally. “While the still pictures of Epstein and Trump went viral online,” Stewart notes, “I’m not sure that convinces people of anything – it simply makes Trump uneasy. Our documentary gives people 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 20m times.”

The Moment of Projection

The film began with the recognizable Windsor Castle logo. “It requires a cylindrical building needs some technical calibration,” Stewart explains. “So there’s this royal crest. Officers likely thought: ‘How pleasant – the royal family,’ and suddenly a massive image of Jeffrey Epstein appears. This electric jolt goes through the officers nearby, and the police all pile into the hotel.”

Not Their First Protest

This was not the group’s first rodeo; it wasn’t even their first action against Trump. In 2018, during his time with Greenpeace, Stewart piloted a motorized paraglider near the hotel where the president was staying in Scotland. A year later, police visited him that any repeat, his safety wasn't assured.

Confrontation with Police

But, the group's creators were not especially worried about detainment. “My nervous energy goes into wanting the protest works,” says Oliver Knowles, another co-founder. “Once the police arrive, the message is already out.” The police response was swift, arriving in the lobby within three minutes, “really pumped up”, he remembers. “They were in tactical gear and baseball caps. They had located some protesters. They came roaring up the stairs; prepared; they were on a mission to protect the president. Fortunately, no guns. But they were very adrenalised when they entered the room. I told them: ‘We should keep this calm.’”

Delaying a large number of police officers is a long time. It helped that they didn’t know which law to charge anyone. When they finally entered the room, “one officer began reciting a clause of the Town and Country Planning Act, which another officer told him to stop because it wasn’t right.” Knowles and three other activists were then arrested for malicious communication, a law related to harassment. “and it’s very specific: it’s designed to address a serious offence. To throw it at a piece of journalism, displayed on a wall, to protect the reputation of the president, seemed against the spirit of the legislation,” Stewart says archly. As his colleagues were arrested, he slipped away, then soon after boarded a train out of Windsor, calling lawyers.

An Ironic Interrogation

Some time in the middle of the night, while the activists 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. During interrogation, the sole available interrogators were from the child protection squad – a twist that was not lost on anyone, given the subject matter of the protest concerned alleged sex offender. Knowles and his associates responded to every question with: “No comment.” Shortly after starting the interview, the officers slid over a photo: “‘Mr Knowles, did you take the drawer from this bedside table?’ ‘No comment.’ ‘Sir, do you know anyone who may have had cause to take the drawer?’ ‘No comment.’ I anticipated what was coming: an image of a large projector, secured to several drawers. Then, the detectives were finding it hard to maintain their composure.”

The Outcome

A little more than one month later, all charges were dropped.