Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor seen lying across women in Epstein files

A picture of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor sprawled across the laps of five women with Ghislaine Maxwell has been released as part of the Epstein files. 

A trove of 300,000 documents were made public by the US government last night, revealing sickening scenes at Epstein's mansions, including countless images of naked young women. 

In one of the images the former prince - donning a black suit and bow tie - can be seen lying across the five women, smiling with his face near the bare legs of one.

The undated new photo of Andrew appears to have been taken in front of the fireplace in Sandringham House's saloon room, where the Royal Family traditionally gathers after dinner on Christmas Day.

It shows the playboy prince in a dinner jacket lying across the laps of five smartly dressed women. Grinning for the camera, his cheek is just inches above the bare legs of one of the women, all of whom have had their identities protected by US government lawyers.

Presiding over this crude scene is Epstein's pimp Ghislaine Maxwell. Just visible to the left of her is the concealed door to the room in Sandringham House where George V broadcast his first Christmas radio message in 1932.

It is not currently clear when the photo was taken as the photos released are lacking context.

Andrew hosted a surprise birthday party for Maxwell, now 63, at the monarch's private country retreat in Norfolk in December 2000. He would later describe the event as a 'straightforward shooting weekend' in his disastrous BBC Newsnight interview in 2019.

The former prince has been dogged by allegations that he sexually assaulted then 17-year-old Virginia Giuffre after she was trafficked by Epstein. He has always denied the accusations. 

He stepped down from royal duties in 2019 but the publication of Ms Giuffre's posthumous memoir, and the US government's release of documents from Epstein's estate, brought more scrutiny over his relationship with the financier.

It is now six years since then, when the FBI asked Andrew to submit to questioning as a 'witness' to help its investigation into the crimes of Epstein.

In the 2000s, Andrew spent weeks as a guest at Epstein's 'House of Sin' villa in Florida where children were forced to dress in schoolgirl outfits and have under-age sex with the paedophile American financier.

Andrew has always vehemently denied accusations by Mrs Giuffre that she was forced to have sex with him three times.

In 2022, he paid her an undisclosed sum reported to be £12million to settle her civil claim for sex assault without any admission of wrongdoing.

Andrew, who stayed with Epstein at his mansions in New York, Florida and the Caribbean, and flew on the billionaire's private jet nicknamed the 'Lolita Express', has always insisted he never saw, witnessed or suspected 'any behaviour of the sort' that led to Epstein's arrest and conviction for child sex offences.

Some of the new photos give a stomach-churning glimpse into the 'décor' of Epstein's homes, which were covered in artworks featuring naked girls. One chilling and unexplained photo features a naked baby in a bathroom sink.

After Epstein died in 2019, Andrew made various pledges to help US investigators, but they accused him of stalling. American prosecutors made a public statement lambasting Andrew for giving 'zero co-operation'. Then they took the drastic step of asking the British Government to facilitate a formal interview with the then duke.

The Home Office was supposed to be 'processing' the 2019 request but nothing ever happened. The former duke has resisted calls from victims of Epstein to voluntarily submit to FBI questioning.

He was 'at least a witness' to the investigation into Epstein's crimes, former US attorney general William Barr said recently. There was no response to a request for comment from Andrew.

Other pictures released on Friday also show Andrew's ex-wife, Sarah Ferguson, posing for a photograph with someone on the street and talking to a woman while sitting on a sofa.

In both images, she appears to be wearing the same outfit, although it is unclear if the photographs were taken on the same day. 

Former president Bill Clinton also appeared numerous times in files, with one image showing him relaxing in a hot tub. In another, he takes a dip with Maxwell in a swimming pool. 

Other high-profile names, including Michael Jackson, Kevin Spacey, Diana Ross, Sir Mick Jagger and Sir Richard Branson are also pictured in the files. 

The trove of documents, including court records, footage and images, was uploaded on Friday night to the US Department of Justice website, which held users in a queue as it experienced an 'extremely high volume of search requests'.

The data dump came after US deputy attorney general Todd Blanche said 'several hundred thousand' documents from the so-called 'Epstein files' would be released ahead of a legal deadline but the need to protect the sex offender's victims meant thousands more would be released over the coming weeks.

The US Department of Justice is legally obligated to make all files related to the investigation into the paedophile public by midnight on Friday following the passing of the Epstein Files Transparency Act.

The financier was found dead in his cell at a federal jail in Manhattan, New York, in August 2019 while he awaited trial on sex trafficking charges. His death was ruled a suicide.

Trump, once a close friend of Epstein, fought for months to prevent the release of the records related to the investigation of Epstein, who died in a New York jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.

He signed the legislation last month to ensure the release of the files, despite previously resisting disclosure and claiming the issue was a 'Democrat hoax'.

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Speaking ahead of the release, Mr Blanche told Fox News: 'I expect that we're going to release several hundred thousand documents today.

'And those documents will come in all different forms, photographs and other materials associated with all of the investigations into Mr Epstein.'

Explaining why there may be a delay in releasing all the files, Mr Blanche told the broadcaster: 'What we're doing is we are looking at every single piece of paper that we are going to produce, making sure that every victim, their name, their identity, their story, to the extent it needs to be protected, is completely protected.

'And so I expect that we're going to release more documents over the next couple of weeks.

'So today, several hundred thousand and then over the next couple (of) weeks, I expect several hundred thousand more.'