🔗 Share this article What Happened Next: The Evening The Activist Group Beamed Pictures Featuring Trump and Epstein on to Windsor Castle When plans were revealed for the former president's upcoming official trip, complete with 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 without a statement. The act of offering a lavish welcome was viewed as especially servile. Their next creative protest proceeded like clockwork. A Provocative Film Activists created a nine-minute film detailing Donald Trump’s relationship with notorious figure Jeffrey Epstein. Its ending stated: “The commander-in-chief of the United States was a long-time close friend of the nation's most infamous child sex trafficker. He’s alleged to be mentioned, repeatedly, in documents from the criminal probe into that individual … And now that president, Donald Trump, is a guest in Windsor Castle.” (In response, Trump has stated he fell out with Epstein long prior to Epstein’s first arrest and has consistently denied all allegations in relation to Epstein.) Preparations and Execution The group had secured rooms in the adjacent Harte and Garter hotel, rooms advertised with “castle view” and, even more helpfully, superior castle views, said group founder, Ben Stewart. They utilized a powerful projector. For audio, Stewart placed a wireless speaker, hidden within a box of cereal, atop a public rubbish bin outside. International press had gathered, their gaze fixed at the castle, becoming bored as Trump was delayed. The film, however, spread rapidly everywhere. “Although the still pictures of Epstein and Trump spread like wildfire online,” Stewart says, “I doubt that convinces people of anything – it just makes Trump uneasy. The film we made gives people something tangible to share, saying: ‘There’s something really serious 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 official Windsor Castle logo. “It requires a cylindrical building needs some technical calibration,” Stewart states. “First appeared this royal crest. The police are thinking: ‘Ah, that’s nice – a royal tribute,’ and then abruptly a great big picture of Jeffrey Epstein appears. This electric jolt passed through the officers nearby, and they raced into the hotel.” Not Their First Protest 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 then-president was staying during a visit to Turnberry. The following year, police visited him that any repeat, they couldn’t guarantee. The Arrests However, the group's creators weren't especially worried about detainment. “My nervous energy goes into ensuring the action to succeed,” says Oliver Knowles, another co-founder. “Once the police arrive, the message is already out.” Officers was rapid, arriving in the lobby in under 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 firearms. But they were very adrenalised when they entered the room. I told them: ‘Let’s keep this calm.’” Stalling multiple police officers is a long time. It helped that they were unsure which law to make arrests. Upon finally entering the room, “one officer began reciting a clause of the Town and Country Planning Act, which another officer told him to stop because it wasn’t right.” Knowles and three other team members were then arrested for malicious communications, a stalking law. “and it’s very specific: its purpose is 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, shortly thereafter was on a train out of Windsor, contacting legal counsel. A Second Arrest and Questioning Some time in the middle of the night, as the detainees sat in cells at Maidenhead police station, police re-entered and arrested them again, this time for causing a public nuisance, having decided more likely to succeed. When they came to be questioned, the only officers available belonged to the child protection squad – a twist which was palpable, given the subject matter of the protest concerned Jeffrey Epstein. Knowles and his associates just answered all queries with: “I have no comment.” Shortly after starting the interview, the officers slid over a photo: “‘Mr Knowles, did you take the drawer from this nightstand?’ ‘No comment.’ ‘Sir, do you know anybody else who may have had cause to take the drawer?’ ‘No comment.’ I knew the next move: an image of a large projector, secured to several drawers. At that point, the detectives struggled to keep a straight face.” The Final Result Just over a month later, every charge was dismissed.
When plans were revealed for the former president's upcoming official trip, complete with 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 without a statement. The act of offering a lavish welcome was viewed as especially servile. Their next creative protest proceeded like clockwork. A Provocative Film Activists created a nine-minute film detailing Donald Trump’s relationship with notorious figure Jeffrey Epstein. Its ending stated: “The commander-in-chief of the United States was a long-time close friend of the nation's most infamous child sex trafficker. He’s alleged to be mentioned, repeatedly, in documents from the criminal probe into that individual … And now that president, Donald Trump, is a guest in Windsor Castle.” (In response, Trump has stated he fell out with Epstein long prior to Epstein’s first arrest and has consistently denied all allegations in relation to Epstein.) Preparations and Execution The group had secured rooms in the adjacent Harte and Garter hotel, rooms advertised with “castle view” and, even more helpfully, superior castle views, said group founder, Ben Stewart. They utilized a powerful projector. For audio, Stewart placed a wireless speaker, hidden within a box of cereal, atop a public rubbish bin outside. International press had gathered, their gaze fixed at the castle, becoming bored as Trump was delayed. The film, however, spread rapidly everywhere. “Although the still pictures of Epstein and Trump spread like wildfire online,” Stewart says, “I doubt that convinces people of anything – it just makes Trump uneasy. The film we made gives people something tangible to share, saying: ‘There’s something really serious 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 official Windsor Castle logo. “It requires a cylindrical building needs some technical calibration,” Stewart states. “First appeared this royal crest. The police are thinking: ‘Ah, that’s nice – a royal tribute,’ and then abruptly a great big picture of Jeffrey Epstein appears. This electric jolt passed through the officers nearby, and they raced into the hotel.” Not Their First Protest 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 then-president was staying during a visit to Turnberry. The following year, police visited him that any repeat, they couldn’t guarantee. The Arrests However, the group's creators weren't especially worried about detainment. “My nervous energy goes into ensuring the action to succeed,” says Oliver Knowles, another co-founder. “Once the police arrive, the message is already out.” Officers was rapid, arriving in the lobby in under 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 firearms. But they were very adrenalised when they entered the room. I told them: ‘Let’s keep this calm.’” Stalling multiple police officers is a long time. It helped that they were unsure which law to make arrests. Upon finally entering the room, “one officer began reciting a clause of the Town and Country Planning Act, which another officer told him to stop because it wasn’t right.” Knowles and three other team members were then arrested for malicious communications, a stalking law. “and it’s very specific: its purpose is 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, shortly thereafter was on a train out of Windsor, contacting legal counsel. A Second Arrest and Questioning Some time in the middle of the night, as the detainees sat in cells at Maidenhead police station, police re-entered and arrested them again, this time for causing a public nuisance, having decided more likely to succeed. When they came to be questioned, the only officers available belonged to the child protection squad – a twist which was palpable, given the subject matter of the protest concerned Jeffrey Epstein. Knowles and his associates just answered all queries with: “I have no comment.” Shortly after starting the interview, the officers slid over a photo: “‘Mr Knowles, did you take the drawer from this nightstand?’ ‘No comment.’ ‘Sir, do you know anybody else who may have had cause to take the drawer?’ ‘No comment.’ I knew the next move: an image of a large projector, secured to several drawers. At that point, the detectives struggled to keep a straight face.” The Final Result Just over a month later, every charge was dismissed.