What Happened Next: The Evening Led By Donkeys Beamed Images of Trump and Epstein on to Windsor Castle

When the announcement was made for Donald Trump’s upcoming official trip, including a Windsor Castle banquet on 17 September 2025, the activist collective Led By Donkeys felt compelled not to let it pass without a statement. The gesture of rolling out the red carpet was viewed as especially servile. Their subsequent creative protest proceeded like clockwork.

A Provocative Film

Activists created a nine-minute film detailing Donald Trump’s relationship with notorious figure Jeffrey Epstein. It concluded: “The president of the United States was a longstanding associate of the nation's most infamous sex offender. His name is said to be referenced, repeatedly, in the files related to the criminal probe into that individual … And now that very man, Donald Trump, is sleeping here within Windsor Castle.” (For his part, Trump maintains he fell out with Epstein years before Epstein’s first arrest and has consistently denied 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, said group founder, Ben Stewart. Their equipment included a powerful 32,000-lumen projector. For audio, Stewart placed a wireless speaker, hidden inside a cereal box, atop a garbage can outside.

International press had gathered, their gaze fixed at the castle, growing restless as Trump was delayed. The film, however, spread rapidly everywhere. “Although photographs of Epstein and Trump spread like wildfire online,” Stewart says, “I’m not sure that persuades anyone of anything – it just makes Trump uncomfortable. The film we made gives people something tangible to share, saying: ‘This is something significant to look at here.’ It was an act of activist journalism about Trump and Epstein, and it was viewed 20m times.”

The Reveal

The film began with the recognizable Windsor Castle logo. “Projecting onto a cylindrical building requires some technical calibration,” Stewart states. “First appeared this royal crest. Officers are thinking: ‘Ah, that’s nice – the royal family,’ and then abruptly a great big picture of Jeffrey Epstein appears. This electric jolt passed through the officers around me, 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 targeting Trump. Back in 2018, during his time with Greenpeace, Stewart had flown a motorized paraglider over the resort where the then-president was staying during a visit to Turnberry. A year later, police visited him that if he tried again, his safety wasn't assured.

The Arrests

However, the activists weren't overly concerned about arrest. “My nervous energy is channelled into ensuring the protest works,” says Oliver Knowles, a fellow founder. “Once the police make the intervention, the die is cast.” Officers was swift, reaching the hotel within three minutes, “really pumped up”, Knowles recalls. “They were in jumpsuits and 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 told them: ‘We should keep this really calm.’”

Delaying a large number of police officers is a long time. It helped that officers didn’t know which law to make arrests. When they finally entered the room, “a policeman started reading a clause of the Town and Country Planning Act, before another asked him to stop because it wasn’t right.” Knowles and three other team members were then arrested for malicious communication, a stalking law. “The law is precise: it’s designed to address a really concerning offence. Applying it to an act of journalism, displayed on a wall, in defense of the reputation of the president, seemed against the spirit of the legislation,” Stewart says archly. While the others were detained, he melted into the crowd, then soon after boarded a train out of Windsor, contacting legal counsel.

An Ironic Interrogation

Some time in the middle of the night, as the detainees sat in cells at Maidenhead police station, officers came in and re-arrested them, this time for causing a public nuisance, having decided more likely to succeed. During interrogation, the only officers available were from the child protection squad – a twist which was palpable, given the focus 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 photo: “They asked, did you remove 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: a picture of a giant projector, ratchet-strapped to four drawers. Then, the detectives were finding it hard to maintain their composure.”

The Final Result

A little more than one month later, all charges was dismissed.