The Unfolding Events: The Evening Led By Donkeys Beamed Pictures Featuring Trump and Epstein on to Windsor Castle
When the announcement was made for the former president's upcoming official trip, including a royal dinner at Windsor on 17 September 2025, the activist collective known as Led By Donkeys felt compelled to ensure it did not go unprotested. The gesture of rolling out the red carpet seemed particularly craven. Their next creative protest proceeded like clockwork.
A Deliberate Message
The group produced a short documentary exploring the connections with notorious figure Jeffrey Epstein. It concluded: “The president 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 mentioned, numerous times, in the files from the investigation into Epstein … Now that president, Donald Trump, is a guest in Windsor Castle.” (In response, Trump maintains he fell out with Epstein years before Epstein’s first arrest and repeatedly refuted any wrongdoing in relation to Epstein.)
The Setup
The activists had booked rooms in the adjacent Harte and Garter hotel, which boast “castle view” and, even more helpfully, superior castle views, said a co-founder, Ben Stewart. Their equipment included a high-lumen 32,000-lumen projector. For audio, Stewart positioned a Bluetooth speaker, hidden inside a cereal box, on top of a garbage can outside.
International press had gathered, staring at the castle, becoming bored awaiting Trump's arrival. Their film, gained traction globally. “Although the still pictures of Epstein and Trump spread like wildfire online,” Stewart notes, “I’m not sure that convinces people of anything – it simply makes Trump uncomfortable. The film we made gives people a social object 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 Reveal
It started with the recognizable Windsor Castle logo. “Projecting onto the castle's round tower requires a little bit of mapping,” Stewart states. “First appeared this royal crest. The police are thinking: ‘Ah, that’s nice – the royal family,’ and then abruptly a great big picture of Jeffrey Epstein materializes. This electric jolt goes through the police in fluorescent jackets nearby, and the police raced into the hotel.”
Not Their First Protest
It wasn't their inaugural action; nor was it their first action targeting Trump. In 2018, during his time with Greenpeace, Stewart had flown a paraglider near the hotel where the then-president was staying in Scotland. A year later, police visited him that if he tried again, his safety wasn't assured.
Confrontation with Police
But, the activists were not overly concerned about detainment. “All my anxiety is channelled into wanting the action to succeed,” says Oliver Knowles, another co-founder. “By the time the police arrive, the die is cast.” Officers was swift, reaching the hotel within three minutes, “really pumped up”, Knowles recalls. “Wearing jumpsuits and baseball caps. They’d finally found some protesters. They charged up the stairs; prepared; tasked to safeguard the guest. Thankfully, no guns. But they were extremely tense upon entering the room. I told them: ‘Let’s keep this really calm.’”
Stalling a large number of police officers is a long time. It helped that officers were unsure 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, before another asked him to stop because it wasn’t right.” Knowles and three additional team members were subsequently detained for malicious communications, a law related to harassment. “and it’s very specific: it’s designed to address a serious offence. Applying it to a piece of journalism, projected on to a wall, in defense of the reputation of the president, seemed contrary to the intent of the legislation,” Stewart remarks pointedly. As his colleagues were arrested, he slipped away, then soon after 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, police re-entered and re-arrested them, this time for public nuisance, deeming it more likely to succeed. When they came to be questioned, the sole available interrogators belonged to the child protection unit – a twist that was palpable, given the focus of the protest involved alleged sex offender. The activists responded to every question with: “No comment.” Shortly after starting the interview, police presented a photo: “They asked, did you take the drawer from this nightstand?’ ‘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: a picture of a large projector, ratchet-strapped to several drawers. At that point, the detectives were finding it hard to maintain their composure.”
The Final Result
Just over one month later, all charges was dismissed.
