What Happened Next: The Evening Led By Donkeys Projected Pictures Featuring Trump and Epstein on to Windsor Castle

When the announcement was made for Donald Trump’s second state visit, complete with a royal dinner at Windsor on 17 September 2025, the protest group known as Led By Donkeys was determined not to let it pass unprotested. The act of offering a lavish welcome seemed especially servile. Their next art-activist event proceeded with precision.

A Deliberate Message

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 was a long-time close friend of the nation's most infamous child sex trafficker. His name is said to be referenced, repeatedly, in the files from the investigation into Epstein … And now that very man, Donald Trump, is sleeping here within Windsor Castle.” (For his part, Trump maintains he fell out with Epstein long prior to Epstein’s first arrest and has consistently denied any wrongdoing in relation to Epstein.)

Preparations and Execution

The activists had booked rooms in the nearby Harte and Garter hotel, rooms advertised with views of the castle and, even more helpfully, “castle view superior”, said a co-founder, Ben Stewart. They utilized a high-lumen projector. For audio, Stewart positioned a wireless speaker, hidden within a box of cereal, on top of a public rubbish bin outside.

The world’s media had gathered, staring at the castle, becoming bored awaiting Trump's arrival. The film, however, gained traction everywhere. “While photographs of Epstein and Trump went viral online,” Stewart notes, “I’m not sure that persuades anyone of anything – it just makes Trump uneasy. The film we made gives people a social object to share, implying: ‘There’s something significant to examine here.’ We took an act of activist journalism about Trump and Epstein, and it was seen by millions.”

The Reveal

It started with the official Windsor Castle logo. “Projecting onto a cylindrical building needs some technical calibration,” Stewart explains. “First appeared the royal coat of arms. Officers are thinking: ‘How pleasant – the royal family,’ and suddenly a massive image of Jeffrey Epstein appears. A wave of shock passed through the officers around me, and the police all pile into the hotel.”

A History of Activism

It wasn't the group’s first rodeo; it wasn’t even their first action against Trump. In 2018, while working for Greenpeace, Stewart had flown a paraglider near the resort where the president was staying during a visit to Turnberry. A year later, officers warned him that if he tried again, they couldn’t guarantee.

The Arrests

But, the activists were not overly concerned about arrest. “My nervous energy is channelled into ensuring the action to succeed,” notes Oliver Knowles, a fellow founder. “By the time the police make the intervention, the die is cast.” The police response was rapid, reaching the hotel in under three minutes, highly agitated, he remembers. “They were in tactical gear and caps. They’d finally found the culprits. They came roaring up the stairs; they were briefed; they were on a mission to safeguard the guest. Thankfully, no guns. But they were extremely tense when they entered the room. I had to say: ‘Let’s keep this calm.’”

Delaying multiple police officers is a long time. The fact that officers didn’t know under what law to make arrests. When they finally entered the room, “one officer started reading a section of the Town and Country Planning Act, which another officer told him to stop as it was incorrect.” Knowles and three other activists were then arrested for malicious communications, a stalking law. “and it’s very specific: it’s designed to deal with a really concerning offence. To throw it at an act of journalism, displayed on a wall, to protect the reputation of the president, appeared contrary to the intent of the legislation,” Stewart says archly. While the others were detained, he slipped away, shortly thereafter was on a train out of Windsor, contacting legal counsel.

A Second Arrest and Questioning

Later that night, as the detainees sat in cells at Maidenhead police station, officers came in and arrested them again, now for public nuisance, having decided more likely to succeed. When they came to be questioned, the sole available interrogators were from the child protection unit – an irony that was not lost on anyone, given the subject matter of the protest involved Jeffrey Epstein. The activists responded to all queries with: “No comment.” Shortly after starting the interview, the officers slid over a photograph: “They asked, did you take the drawer from this bedside table?’ ‘No comment.’ ‘Mr Knowles, do you know anybody else who may have had reason to remove the drawer?’ ‘No comment.’ I anticipated what was coming: a picture of a giant projector, secured to four drawers. Then, the officers struggled to keep a straight face.”

The Final Result

A little more than one month later, every charge were dropped.