🔗 Share this article The Aftermath: The Evening The Activist Group Beamed Pictures Featuring Trump and Epstein onto Windsor Castle When plans were revealed for Donald Trump’s second state visit, complete with a royal dinner at Windsor on September 17th, 2025, the protest group known as Led By Donkeys felt compelled to ensure it did not go unprotested. The gesture of offering a lavish welcome seemed especially servile. Their subsequent art-activist event unfolded like clockwork. A Deliberate Message Activists created a short documentary exploring Donald Trump’s relationship with the late financier Jeffrey Epstein. It concluded: “The commander-in-chief of the United States was a long-time close friend of the nation's most infamous child sex trafficker. His name is said to be mentioned, repeatedly, in documents related to the investigation into that individual … Now that president, Donald Trump, is sleeping here 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 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, superior castle views, according to group founder, Ben Stewart. Their equipment included a high-lumen 32,000-lumen projector. To broadcast sound, Stewart placed a Bluetooth speaker, concealed inside a cereal box, on top of a public rubbish bin outside. International press was assembled, staring at the castle, becoming bored awaiting Trump's arrival. The film, however, gained traction everywhere. “While the still pictures of Epstein and Trump spread like wildfire online,” Stewart notes, “I doubt that persuades anyone of anything – it simply makes Trump uneasy. The film we made provides viewers something tangible to share, implying: ‘There’s something significant to examine here.’ We took an act of activist journalism about Trump and Epstein, and it was viewed 20m times.” The Reveal It started with the recognizable Windsor Castle logo. “Projecting onto a cylindrical building needs a little bit of mapping,” Stewart explains. “So there’s the royal coat of arms. The police are thinking: ‘How pleasant – the royal family,’ and suddenly a great big picture of Jeffrey Epstein materializes. A wave of shock goes through the officers around me, and the police raced into the hotel.” Not Their First Protest It wasn't their inaugural action; nor was it their first effort targeting Trump. In 2018, while working for Greenpeace, Stewart had flown a motorized paraglider near the hotel where the president was staying in Scotland. A year later, officers warned him that any repeat, they couldn’t guarantee. The Arrests However, the group's creators were not especially worried about detainment. “My nervous energy is channelled into ensuring the action to succeed,” says Oliver Knowles, a fellow founder. “Once the police make the intervention, the die is cast.” Officers was rapid, reaching the hotel within three minutes, “really pumped up”, he remembers. “They were in tactical gear and baseball caps. They’d finally found some protesters. They came roaring up the stairs; they were briefed; tasked to safeguard the guest. Thankfully, no guns. But they were very adrenalised when they entered 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 under what law to make arrests. Upon finally entering the room, “one officer started reading a clause of the Town and Country Planning Act, before another told him to stop as it was incorrect.” Knowles and three additional activists were then arrested for malicious communication, a stalking law. “and it’s very specific: it’s designed to address a serious offence. To throw it at a piece of journalism, projected on to a wall, to protect 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 was on a train out of Windsor, contacting legal counsel. A Second Arrest and Questioning Later in the middle of the night, as the detainees sat in cells at Maidenhead police station, officers came in and re-arrested them, now for causing a public nuisance, deeming it more likely to succeed. When they came to be questioned, the sole available interrogators were from the child protection unit – a twist which was not lost on anyone, given the subject matter of the protest concerned alleged sex offender. Knowles and his associates responded to all queries with: “I have no comment.” A few minutes into the interview, police presented a photograph: “They asked, did you remove the drawer from this bedside table?’ ‘No comment.’ ‘Mr Knowles, do you know anyone who may have had cause to take the drawer?’ ‘No comment.’ I anticipated the next move: a picture of a large projector, secured to several drawers. Then, the officers struggled to keep a straight face.” The Outcome Just over a month later, all charges was dismissed.
When plans were revealed for Donald Trump’s second state visit, complete with a royal dinner at Windsor on September 17th, 2025, the protest group known as Led By Donkeys felt compelled to ensure it did not go unprotested. The gesture of offering a lavish welcome seemed especially servile. Their subsequent art-activist event unfolded like clockwork. A Deliberate Message Activists created a short documentary exploring Donald Trump’s relationship with the late financier Jeffrey Epstein. It concluded: “The commander-in-chief of the United States was a long-time close friend of the nation's most infamous child sex trafficker. His name is said to be mentioned, repeatedly, in documents related to the investigation into that individual … Now that president, Donald Trump, is sleeping here 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 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, superior castle views, according to group founder, Ben Stewart. Their equipment included a high-lumen 32,000-lumen projector. To broadcast sound, Stewart placed a Bluetooth speaker, concealed inside a cereal box, on top of a public rubbish bin outside. International press was assembled, staring at the castle, becoming bored awaiting Trump's arrival. The film, however, gained traction everywhere. “While the still pictures of Epstein and Trump spread like wildfire online,” Stewart notes, “I doubt that persuades anyone of anything – it simply makes Trump uneasy. The film we made provides viewers something tangible to share, implying: ‘There’s something significant to examine here.’ We took an act of activist journalism about Trump and Epstein, and it was viewed 20m times.” The Reveal It started with the recognizable Windsor Castle logo. “Projecting onto a cylindrical building needs a little bit of mapping,” Stewart explains. “So there’s the royal coat of arms. The police are thinking: ‘How pleasant – the royal family,’ and suddenly a great big picture of Jeffrey Epstein materializes. A wave of shock goes through the officers around me, and the police raced into the hotel.” Not Their First Protest It wasn't their inaugural action; nor was it their first effort targeting Trump. In 2018, while working for Greenpeace, Stewart had flown a motorized paraglider near the hotel where the president was staying in Scotland. A year later, officers warned him that any repeat, they couldn’t guarantee. The Arrests However, the group's creators were not especially worried about detainment. “My nervous energy is channelled into ensuring the action to succeed,” says Oliver Knowles, a fellow founder. “Once the police make the intervention, the die is cast.” Officers was rapid, reaching the hotel within three minutes, “really pumped up”, he remembers. “They were in tactical gear and baseball caps. They’d finally found some protesters. They came roaring up the stairs; they were briefed; tasked to safeguard the guest. Thankfully, no guns. But they were very adrenalised when they entered 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 under what law to make arrests. Upon finally entering the room, “one officer started reading a clause of the Town and Country Planning Act, before another told him to stop as it was incorrect.” Knowles and three additional activists were then arrested for malicious communication, a stalking law. “and it’s very specific: it’s designed to address a serious offence. To throw it at a piece of journalism, projected on to a wall, to protect 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 was on a train out of Windsor, contacting legal counsel. A Second Arrest and Questioning Later in the middle of the night, as the detainees sat in cells at Maidenhead police station, officers came in and re-arrested them, now for causing a public nuisance, deeming it more likely to succeed. When they came to be questioned, the sole available interrogators were from the child protection unit – a twist which was not lost on anyone, given the subject matter of the protest concerned alleged sex offender. Knowles and his associates responded to all queries with: “I have no comment.” A few minutes into the interview, police presented a photograph: “They asked, did you remove the drawer from this bedside table?’ ‘No comment.’ ‘Mr Knowles, do you know anyone who may have had cause to take the drawer?’ ‘No comment.’ I anticipated the next move: a picture of a large projector, secured to several drawers. Then, the officers struggled to keep a straight face.” The Outcome Just over a month later, all charges was dismissed.