Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor appears to be pictured reclining across the legs of five people with his head near a woman’s lap in the latest document dump related to the paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

In the undated image, which is a photograph of a picture in a photo frame, convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell appears to peer down and smile at the former duke, who is smiling with his eyes closed.

A trove of documents, including court records, footage and images, was uploaded on Friday night to the US justice department website, which held users in a queue as it experienced an “extremely high volume of search requests”.

The data release came after the US deputy attorney general, Todd Blanche, said “several hundred thousand” documents from the so-called “Epstein files” would be released before a legal deadline.

He said the need to protect the victims of sex offender Epstein meant thousands more would be released in the coming weeks.

The US justice department was legally required to make all files related to the investigation into Epstein public by midnight on Friday after the passing of the Epstein Files Transparency Act.

The paedophile 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.

Among the hundreds of photos included in the files are undated photos of Maxwell standing outside the door of 10 Downing Street and posing with the former US president Bill Clinton and the actor Kevin Spacey.

Clinton’s spokesperson Angel Urena said the investigation was not about the former president. “There are two types of people here. The first group knew nothing and cut Epstein off before his crimes came to light. The second group continued relationships after that.

“We’re in the first. No amount of stalling by people in the second group will change that.”

Many of the photos and documents are heavily redacted, prompting criticism from US lawmakers and lawyers for Epstein’s victims.

Thomas Massie, a Republican congressman who pressed for the law forcing the disclosure, said: “Unfortunately, today’s document release by AG Pam Bondi and DAG Todd Blanche grossly fails to comply with both the spirit and the letter of the law that Donald Trump signed just 30 days ago.”

Mountbatten-Windsor has faced allegations, which he strenuously denies, that he sexually assaulted a teenage Virginia Giuffre after she was trafficked by Epstein.

He paid millions to Giuffre, a woman he has claimed never to have met, to settle a civil sexual assault claim in 2022.

Tens of thousands of records relating to Epstein and his former girlfriend, Maxwell, have already been released through civil and criminal cases in the US.

It comes after a fresh batch of images from Epstein’s estate were released on Thursday by the Democrats. None of the photographs suggest any wrongdoing and they are all undated.

Two photos of Andrew’s ex-wife Sarah Ferguson with unidentified females were included in the document dump.

Peter Mandelson, who was sacked from his job as the UK’s ambassador to the US earlier this year, could be seen in a picture with Epstein who is being presented with a giant birthday cake.

Mick Jagger, the frontman of the Rolling Stones, could be seen photographed with former US president Bill Clinton with their arm around an unknown woman whose face had been redacted with a black square.

Maxwell, Clinton and actor Kevin Spacey were also seen pictured in Sir Winston Churchill’s war rooms and Jackson could be seen posing next to Epstein in front of a painting.

Clinton could also be seen pictured in a hot tub with an unidentified woman and in another photo with his arm around another woman in a white vest.

Also among the hundreds of photos included in the files are undated photos of Maxwell standing outside the door of 10 Downing Street.

A total of 68 images were published online on Thursday, including of billionaire businessman Bill Gates posing with women whose faces have been redacted, and the philosopher Noam Chomsky on board Epstein’s private jet.

The latest batch follows others from Epstein’s estate posted last week, including one of Mountbatten-Windsor standing next to Microsoft founder Gates.

Mountbatten-Windsor stepped down from royal duties in 2019 after his disastrous Newsnight interview, but the publication of Giuffre’s posthumous memoir, and the US government’s release of documents from Epstein’s estate, brought more scrutiny of his relationship with the financier.

It led to the king officially stripping his disgraced brother of both his HRH style and his prince title.

US politicians have criticised the former prince for his “silence” after he missed a deadline last month to respond to their request for an interview about Epstein.

With PA Media