Giant Images Of Epstein And Trump Projected Onto Windsor Castle Where President Is Staying On UK Visit

Four people were arrested on suspicion of malicious communications after activists projected giant images of U.S. President Donald Trump, convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and Britain’s Prince Andrew onto Windsor Castle on Tuesday night, just hours after Trump landed in the United Kingdom for an unprecedented second state visit. Thames Valley Police said officers “responded swiftly to stop the projection,” calling it a “public stunt,” and confirmed the four remained in custody on Wednesday. The force identified the suspects only by age and residence — men aged 60 (East Sussex), 50 (London), 37 (Kent) and 36 (London) — and said a “thorough investigation” was under way in coordination with security partners. “We take any unauthorised activity around Windsor Castle extremely seriously,” Chief Superintendent Felicity Parker said.

The projection, cast across one of the castle’s towers in Windsor, about 25 miles west of London, included stills and clips of Trump and Epstein together, an image of Britain’s Prince Andrew with Epstein, a mugshot of Trump, and text associated with a note purporting to be a birthday message to Epstein. Images of Epstein’s victims, news footage and police documents were also shown, according to photographs and video captured at the scene. Police and witnesses said the display ran for several minutes before officers intervened.

Reuters photographs from the scene showed a sequence on the stone walls that alternated between a side-by-side photo of Trump and Epstein, a separate image of Prince Andrew with Epstein, and a title card referencing a birthday book assembled for Epstein’s 50th in 2003. Captions in the agency’s feed described an inscription that read “To Jeff, you are the greatest!” among the projected material. The Guardian’s video feed also showed footage of Prince Andrew and Trump linked to Epstein in the montage.

The episode intensified a charged security and political atmosphere around the royal residence, where King Charles III is hosting Trump and First Lady Melania Trump for the ceremonial centrepiece of the visit. Police in Windsor have erected fencing and a restricted perimeter on sections of the Long Walk and deployed mounted, marine, drone and specialist search units in anticipation of protests and high-profile movements in and out of the castle complex. “We have a very comprehensive policing operation considering every eventuality,” a Thames Valley Police spokesperson said earlier this week.

Trump arrived in Britain late on Tuesday ahead of a full day of pageantry and talks on Wednesday. U.S. officials and British organisers have billed the trip as a chance to highlight economic collaboration and defence ties, while opponents have mobilised protests in Windsor and London. The projection arrests came as activists continued to prepare for larger demonstrations in the capital, where organisers say they expect significant turnout for a march and rally coinciding with the visit.

The projection followed another attention-grabbing stunt on Monday, when campaigners unfurled what they called the “world’s largest photo” of Trump with Epstein on the grass along the approach to Windsor Castle. The political activist collective Everyone Hates Elon claimed responsibility, said it raised around £30,000 from the British public to produce the giant banner and vowed to replicate the image across Trump’s UK itinerary. “Trump’s supporters are tearing themselves apart over the Epstein files. Now he’s hoping to escape it all to have tea with the King,” a spokesperson said, adding the group intended to “make sure Epstein haunts” the president “wherever he goes.” The banner was later removed by authorities.

Washington developments have kept the Epstein issue in the foreground as the visit begins. On 8 September, Democrats on the U.S. House Oversight Committee made public a page from Epstein’s 2003 “birthday book” that they say includes a sexually suggestive letter from Trump, reproduced over a drawing of a naked female silhouette. The White House quickly denied the letter’s authenticity and said it would support a forensic review of the signature; Trump has said the language and signature are not his. The Windsor projection incorporated imagery and text from the disputed document, Reuters reported.

Trump’s past association with Epstein, who died in a New York jail in 2019 while awaiting trial on federal sex-trafficking charges, has long been documented in photographs and coverage of social events in Florida and New York in the late 1990s and early 2000s. In a 2002 interview with New York Magazine, Trump said of Epstein: “Terrific guy… He’s a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side.” After Epstein’s 2019 arrest, Trump told reporters he had not spoken to Epstein in years, said they had a falling-out and added, “I was not a fan.”

Prince Andrew’s image in the Windsor projection underscored the enduring sensitivity of his own ties to Epstein. The Duke of York stepped back from public duties in 2019 after a BBC Newsnight interview in which he defended his judgement but called staying at Epstein’s home in 2010 “the wrong thing to do”; he also said he had “no recollection” of meeting Virginia Giuffre, who accused him of sexual assault when she was 17 — an allegation he has consistently denied. In February 2022, Andrew settled Giuffre’s U.S. civil lawsuit out of court without admitting liability, and Buckingham Palace subsequently announced that he would continue not to undertake public royal duties.

Thames Valley Police did not name the suspects arrested over the projection or specify potential charges beyond the suspicion of malicious communications. The force said further updates would be provided “when we are in a position to do so.” British media reported that the projection occurred shortly after the president’s arrival and in the hours before the royal programme at Windsor began on Wednesday morning.

As with previous high-profile visits, police logistics around Windsor include tightened airspace and waterway patrols. In a separate enforcement action on Tuesday, authorities arrested two men for flying drones near Windsor Castle in violation of restrictions, the Associated Press reported. Officers have also warned of road closures and bag searches in the town as processions and motorcades move between event sites.

The Windsor projection is part of a broader wave of protest visuals timed for maximum visibility during the two-day visit. News organisations showed video of the castle images cycling through portraits and headlines as small groups watched from public vantage points outside the secure zone. Sky News and Al Jazeera reported that four arrests had been made after the display, echoing the Thames Valley statement, while The Guardian carried agency footage of the images of Trump, Epstein and Prince Andrew on the castle walls.

While Trump and his aides have sought to focus attention on ceremonial pageantry and prospective economic announcements around the trip, the Windsor incidents ensured that questions about Epstein would feature prominently in the backdrop. The White House has repeatedly pointed to Trump’s public break with Epstein years before his death and dismissed renewed scrutiny of the birthday book materials as a political “hoax,” while saying it would cooperate with any technical analysis of disputed documents. In London and Windsor, protesters argue that the subject remains a legitimate line of inquiry, and have pledged further actions during the visit.

Tuesday’s arrests capped 48 hours in which the castle and its surrounding parklands were the site of competing set pieces: a large-scale security operation for a state banquet hosted by the King and carefully planned movements of the presidential party, and a rolling campaign of provocative imagery designed to shadow the visit. Police said they would continue to balance the right to lawful protest with the need to protect royal and presidential events, urging the public to cooperate with officers and respect exclusion areas. As of Wednesday morning there were no reports of injuries linked to the projection incident, and police said the four suspects remained in custody pending further inquiries.

The choice of Windsor — a tightly controlled venue with established ceremonial routes — appears to have limited the scope for large-scale confrontation compared with a full-programme welcome in central London. Even so, the castle’s iconic façade provided a vast, high-contrast canvas for activists’ message, their timing ensured maximum media exposure, and the arrests pushed the matter from social media into the police blotter on the day the president’s engagements begin. With protests planned in Parliament Square and local actions advertised in towns across Britain, the episode at Windsor signalled how imagery linked to Epstein will remain intertwined with the optics of the president’s stay — and how police intend to respond when stunts cross into protected space around a royal residence.