The Unfolding Events: The Night The Activist Group Projected 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 September 17th, 2025, the protest group Led By Donkeys felt compelled to ensure it did not go without a statement. The gesture of offering a lavish welcome seemed especially servile. Their subsequent creative protest proceeded like clockwork.
A Provocative Film
The group produced a nine-minute film detailing the connections with notorious figure Jeffrey Epstein. It concluded: “The commander-in-chief of the United States was a long-time close friend of America’s most notorious sex offender. He’s alleged to be referenced, repeatedly, in documents from the investigation into that individual … And now that very man, Donald Trump, is a guest in Windsor Castle.” (In response, Trump has stated he fell out with Epstein years before Epstein’s initial legal troubles and has consistently denied any wrongdoing concerning Epstein.)
Preparations and Execution
The group had booked rooms in the nearby Harte and Garter hotel, which boast “castle view” and, even more helpfully, “castle view superior”, said group founder, Ben Stewart. They utilized a powerful projector. For audio, Stewart placed a Bluetooth speaker, hidden within a box of cereal, on top of a garbage can outside.
International press had gathered, staring at the castle, growing restless as Trump was delayed. The film, however, gained traction globally. “While photographs of Epstein and Trump went viral online,” Stewart notes, “I’m not sure that convinces people of anything – it just makes Trump uneasy. The film we made gives people something tangible to share, implying: ‘There’s something significant to look at here.’ We took an act of activist journalism about Trump and Epstein, and it was seen 20m times.”
The Moment of Projection
It started with the official Windsor Castle logo. “It requires a cylindrical building requires a little bit of mapping,” Stewart explains. “So there’s this royal crest. The police are thinking: ‘How pleasant – the royal family,’ and then abruptly a massive image of Jeffrey Epstein materializes. This electric jolt passed through the officers nearby, and the police all pile into the hotel.”
Not Their First Protest
This was not the group’s first rodeo; nor was it their first effort against Trump. In 2018, while working for Greenpeace, Stewart piloted a motorized paraglider near the hotel where the then-president was staying during a visit to Turnberry. The following year, officers warned him that any repeat, his safety wasn't assured.
Confrontation with Police
But, the activists weren't especially worried about detainment. “My nervous energy goes into ensuring the action to succeed,” notes Oliver Knowles, a fellow founder. “Once the police make the intervention, the die is cast.” The police response was swift, arriving in the lobby in under three minutes, highly agitated, Knowles recalls. “They were in tactical gear and baseball caps. They’d finally found the culprits. They came roaring up the stairs; prepared; tasked to safeguard the guest. Fortunately, no firearms. But they were extremely tense upon entering the room. I told them: ‘We should keep this really calm.’”
Delaying multiple police officers for six minutes. The fact that they were unsure under what law to make arrests. When they finally entered the room, “one officer began reciting a section of the Town and Country Planning Act, which another officer told him to stop because it wasn’t right.” Knowles and three other team members were then arrested for malicious communications, a law related to harassment. “The law is precise: its purpose is to address a serious offence. Applying it to an act of journalism, displayed on a wall, to protect the reputation of the president, appeared against the spirit of the legislation,” Stewart remarks pointedly. While the others were detained, he slipped away, then soon after boarded a train leaving 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 unit – an irony which was not lost on anyone, given the focus of the protest concerned alleged sex offender. The activists just answered every question with: “I have no comment.” Shortly after starting the interview, police presented a photo: “‘Mr Knowles, did you take the drawer from this nightstand?’ ‘No comment.’ ‘Mr Knowles, do you know anyone who may have had cause to take the drawer?’ ‘No comment.’ I anticipated the next move: an image of a large projector, secured to several 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.
