DEMANDS for the royal family to join Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor in the dock grew today as the government piled pressure on the King’s brother to reveal all he knows about paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein.

Republic campaign group said that it is “inconceivable” that the disgraced former prince’s “behaviour, whether criminal or not, was not reported to and discussed by the very highest levels in government, police and palace.”

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said that Andrew “should be prepared” to testify before the US Congress about his links to Epstein after pictures which appear to show him crouched over an unidentified young woman were published by the US government.

They were among more than three million documents linked to the late Epstein released by the US Department of Justice on Friday.

“Republic has been clear — Andrew should face a full criminal investigation. There needs to also be a full inquiry into what Charles and William knew about the allegations,” said the campaign group.

“That’s why we’re pursuing a private prosecution of Andrew. If not us, then who? The government and palace’s inaction on this is disgraceful.

“Royal Epstein Inquiry now.”

The King’s brother has previously vehemently denied any wrongdoing, and being pictured or mentioned in the Epstein files is not an indicator of any wrongdoing.

But today Communities Secretary Steve Reed said that Andrew “clearly has insight into what was going on.”

Speaking to the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg, the minister said that he thought the images of Andrew kneeling over the woman are “very disturbing.”

The former prince was stripped of his titles by Charles last year after the posthumous release of a book by Virginia Giuffre who alleged she was trafficked by Epstein and his former girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell when she was 17.

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

Lord Peter Mandelson has meanwhile claimed that he does not remember receiving payments from Epstein which totalled $75,000 (£55,000) and were made when he was a Labour MP.

The peer, who was sacked as US ambassador last year because of his links to Epstein, appears to feature in several bank statements in the newly released files.

In one bank statement, a payment of $25,000 (£18,000) to the account of Reinaldo Avila da Silva, now Lord Mandelson’s husband, features on May 14 2003.

The statement appears to describe “Peter Mandelson” as the beneficiary of the payment, as the allocation “BEN” appears next to his name.

Two later statements from May and June 2004 also feature 25,000 dollar payments (£18,000) to Lord Mandelson, one to an account which appears in his name, and another in which he appears to be listed as a beneficiary.

At the time, he was serving as Labour MP for Hartlepool.

Lord Mandelson told the BBC he had no recollection of receiving the payments, and did not know if the documents were genuine.

The documents also show Virgin Group founder Sir Richard Branson told the disgraced financier to “bring your harem” and gave him public relations advice in emails sent after a business meeting on Necker Island in 2013.

Epstein wrote to Sir Richard: “Nice seeing you, thanks for your hospitality,” adding: “I appreciate your public relations thoughts.”

Replying to the email on September 11 2013, Sir Richard replied: “Dear Jeffrey, It was really nice seeing you today. The boys in Watersports can’t stop speaking about it! Any time you’re in the area would love to see you. As long as you bring your harem!”

Sir Richard added: “I think if Bill Gates was willing to say that you’ve been a brilliant advisor to him, that you slipped up many years ago by sleeping with a 17 1/2 year old woman and were punished for it, that you’ve more than learnt your lesson and have done nothing that’s against the law since and, yes, as a single man you seem to have a penchant for women. But there’s nothing wrong with that. Anyway something along those lines.”

According to Sir Richard’s team, Epstein referred to three adult women on his team as his “harem” and, “regrettably,” Sir Richard used Epstein’s language in a follow-up email but would never have used the term or contacted the American if he had known “the full facts.”

The businessman’s team said a comment about “moving on” after serving a sentence was a “general” comment after Epstein mentioned in passing that he had previously served a prison sentence, having framed the situation as a consensual encounter with an individual “one day shy of 18.”