Banner Linking Trump and Epstein Unfurled Outside Windsor Ahead of U.K. State Visit
Activists displayed a large image on Windsor Castle grounds as police deploy firearms and specialist search teams for the president’s visit
Protesters unveiled a large banner showing President Donald Trump alongside the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein on the lawn outside Windsor Castle on the eve of the president’s state visit to the United Kingdom, organizers and police said.
The political campaign group Everyone Hates Elon claimed responsibility for the display and said the image was paid for with public donations; Thames Valley Police said the banner has since been removed. The visit, scheduled for Sept. 17–19, will see Trump and his wife Melania hosted by King Charles III and Queen Camilla at Windsor, one of the royal family's principal residences.
Thames Valley Police said it had deployed specialist teams as part of a "comprehensive policing operation" prepared for a high-level threat. "The security provision in place for supporting any state visit, including this one, was always supporting a high-level threat," a force spokesperson told TIME, adding that firearms officers and a specialist search unit had been deployed to Windsor and would continue to operate throughout the president’s stay.
Everyone Hates Elon posted footage of the banner and said in a statement that it intends to "make sure Epstein haunts" the president while he is in the U.K. "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 group spokesperson said. The group also displayed the same image in July at a bus stop in Nine Elms near the U.S. embassy in London and installed a refreshed poster in early September featuring a 2002 quote from Trump about Epstein.
The renewed focus on Trump’s past social ties to Epstein follows the publication of letters and other documents said to be associated with a book marking Epstein’s 50th birthday in 2003. One document was a birthday note alleged to have been signed by Trump; the White House denied Trump wrote the note but did not explicitly label the documents fake. The broader corpus of newly surfaced material has also affected British politics, with Peter Mandelson — who until last week served as the U.K. ambassador to the United States — sacked after emails showed extensive correspondence with Epstein and apparent support for him while he faced sexual-abuse charges.
Trump has previously sought to distance himself from Epstein since the financier’s 2019 arrest on federal sex-trafficking charges. Speaking in the Oval Office in 2019, Trump said, "I had a falling out with him. I haven’t spoken to him in 15 years. I was not a fan of his, that I can tell you." Still, demands from campaigners and some members of the public for Congress to release full Epstein-related files have kept the issue in the public eye and made it a focal point for protesters in the U.K.
Organizers and groups across Britain have scheduled demonstrations to coincide with the state visit. The Stop Trump Coalition planned a central London rally on Sept. 17, with protesters set to gather at 2 p.m. local time and march to Parliament. The coalition has said the march will include a range of groups divided into contingents based on their causes. Local events are also scheduled in Cardiff, Manchester, Liverpool and Newcastle.
Protest tactics in previous anti-Trump demonstrations have ranged from large marches to satirical imagery. During Trump’s 2019 state visit to the U.K., demonstrators floated a giant balloon depicting the president as a baby above central London; organizers said an estimated 250,000 people took part in protests that day. Some activist groups selling merchandise tied to the Windsor banner have also shown satirical items such as commemorative plates and mugs in local shops.
A Stop Trump Coalition spokesperson said the planned protests are intended to demonstrate opposition to what they call an "undeserved" state visit and to signal resistance to policies and rhetoric they associate with Trump. Socialist and trade-union organizers have said local rallies will include speakers from labor and pensioner groups.
Thames Valley Police and other security agencies did not provide further details about operational measures. The presence of specialist police teams and the removal of the Windsor banner highlight the tensions the visit has generated as protesters and authorities prepare for a high-profile diplomatic engagement.
As the president arrives for the state visit, authorities in the U.K. will balance ceremonial hospitality and close protection for visiting dignitaries with the right to public assembly and protest — a dynamic that has repeatedly surfaced during previous state visits and high-profile international events in Britain.
