What Happened Next: The Night Led By Donkeys Beamed Pictures Featuring Trump and Epstein onto Windsor Castle

When plans were revealed for Donald Trump’s upcoming official trip, including a royal dinner at Windsor on 17 September 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 Provocative Film

Activists created a nine-minute film exploring the connections with the late financier Jeffrey Epstein. Its ending stated: “The commander-in-chief of the United States is alleged to have been a longstanding associate of the nation's most infamous child sex trafficker. He’s alleged to be referenced, repeatedly, in documents related to the criminal probe into Epstein … And now that very man, Donald Trump, is a guest in Windsor Castle.” (For his part, Trump maintains he ended his friendship with Epstein years before Epstein’s first arrest and has consistently denied all allegations 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 powerful 32,000-lumen projector. For audio, Stewart placed a wireless speaker, concealed within a box of cereal, atop a garbage can outside.

The world’s media had gathered, staring at the castle, becoming bored awaiting Trump's arrival. The film, however, gained traction everywhere. “Although photographs of Epstein and Trump spread like wildfire online,” Stewart notes, “I doubt that persuades anyone of anything – it simply makes Trump uneasy. Our documentary gives people a social object to share, implying: ‘This is something really serious to look at here.’ It was an act of activist journalism about Trump and Epstein, and it was viewed 20m times.”

The Moment of Projection

It started with the recognizable Windsor Castle logo. “Projecting onto a cylindrical building requires some technical calibration,” Stewart explains. “So there’s the royal coat of arms. Officers likely thought: ‘How pleasant – a royal tribute,’ and suddenly a great big picture of Jeffrey Epstein appears. A wave of shock goes through the police in fluorescent jackets nearby, and the police raced into the hotel.”

Not Their First Protest

This was not their inaugural action; nor was it their first action against Trump. In 2018, while working for Greenpeace, Stewart piloted a motorized paraglider over the hotel where the then-president was staying in Scotland. The following year, officers warned him that any repeat, his safety wasn't assured.

Confrontation with Police

However, the activists were not especially worried about detainment. “All my anxiety is channelled into ensuring the action to succeed,” says Oliver Knowles, another co-founder. “By the time the police make the intervention, the die is cast.” Officers was rapid, reaching the hotel within three minutes, highly agitated, he remembers. “Wearing jumpsuits and 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 very adrenalised when they entered the room. I had to say: ‘Let’s keep this calm.’”

Delaying multiple police officers is a long time. It helped that they didn’t know under what law to charge anyone. Upon finally entering 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 activists were then arrested for malicious communication, a stalking law. “and it’s very specific: its purpose is to deal with a serious offence. Applying it to a piece of journalism, projected on to a wall, to protect the reputation of the president, appeared 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 leaving Windsor, calling lawyers.

A Second Arrest and Questioning

Some time in the middle of the night, while the activists 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 squad – a twist which was not lost on anyone, given the subject matter of the protest concerned alleged sex offender. Knowles and his associates just answered all queries with: “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 anybody else who may have had reason to remove the drawer?’ ‘No comment.’ I knew what was coming: an image of a giant projector, secured to several drawers. Then, the detectives were finding it hard to keep a straight face.”

The Final Result

Just over a month later, all charges were dropped.