The Queen, the Prince of Wales and the Duke of Cambridge have ordered their teams to find a “workable solution” over the future role of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex within the royal family.
A Buckingham Palace source said the senior royals have asked aides to work “at pace” with governments and The Sussex Household and an outcome was expected to take “days, not weeks”.
It comes after Harry and Meghan released a bombshell statement on Wednesday saying they would be “stepping back” as senior royals.
The Queen and other members of the family were said to be left “hurt” by Harry and Meghan’s decision to issue a personal statement, which outlined their future lives as financially independent royals who will divide their time between the UK and North America.
READ MORE: Harry and Meghan refuse to give up lavish lifestyle
The PA news agency understands the royal family will talk to multiple governments which suggests US and Canadian officials may be involved.
Meanwhile, a spokeswoman for Meghan confirmed she has returned to Canada, where eight-month-old son Archie is said to have stayed with his nanny when his parents flew back to London.
A spokeswoman for the duchess said: “I can confirm she is in Canada.”
It is understood Meghan was always due to return to Canada after a brief return trip to the UK. A source told the PA news agency “she came back to attend some meetings and then went back”.
The Duke of Cambridge is due to be in Yorkshire for a number of appearances next Wednesday, alongside the Duchess of Cambridge.
Meanwhile, Harry is not expected to be seen in public again until next Thursday, when he will do the draw for the Rugby League World Cup in 2021.
Given the Queen’s timetable of “days” it is likely they will want any talks concluded before the Prince of Wales travels to Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories at the end of the month, to mark the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the former Nazi concentration camp, Auschwitz-Birkenau.
It appears the head of state tried to forestall any announcements after her grandson asked to meet at her private Sandringham estate, the Evening Standard newspaper reported, only to be “ignored” by the couple.
The latest developments reveal the divisions within the heart of the British monarchy which has already been rocked by the Duke of York’s disastrous television interview about his relationship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
READ MORE: Harry and Meghan to 'step back' as senior royals
Harry and Meghan went ahead and released their personal statement on Wednesday evening which was a “bolt from the blue” for Buckingham Palace, sources told PA.
The statement – and a new official Sussexroyal.com website – have thrown up important questions about funding for the couple’s round-the-clock security, media access to their royal events and how they will pay for their future lifestyles.
The Duke and Duchess, who have only recently returned from a six-week stay in Canada with eight-month-old son Archie, said in their statement: “After many months of reflection and internal discussions, we have chosen to make a transition this year in starting to carve out a progressive new role within this institution.
“We intend to step back as ‘senior’ members of the royal family and work to become financially independent, while continuing to fully support Her Majesty the Queen.”
Meghan received a public boost from her close friend Jessica Mulroney, a Canadian stylist and TV star, who posted a quote attributed to Gina Carey, which said: “A strong woman looks a challenge in the eye and gives it a wink.”
But a series of commentators have strongly criticised their decision with public relations and crisis consultant Mark Borkowski saying about the Sussexes “It does feel like a royal couple in exile”.
It is already known the Queen, Prince of Wales and other senior royals were not consulted about the content of the couple’s statement or knew it was to be issued.
But the Standard said Charles and the Duke of Cambridge only received it 10 minutes before it was released.
Over the festive period the newspaper stated Charles told his son to come up with a thought out plan for his wish to spend more time in Canada and America, and when he put forward a draft proposal was told time was needed to consider its implications, particularly funding.
The Queen agreed to Harry’s request to meet when he returned from Canada but the duke was told his grandmother would not discuss his proposals before he had talked them through with his father.
Despite the request not to make any announcements the Sussexes published their statement.
Buckingham Palace would not comment on the latest developments in the Harry and Meghan saga, but it is likely royal aides are organising the duke’s showdown meeting with his father and the Queen.
The Sussexes have outlined their future plans in their statement and it will be for royal household staff and aides to work together to make them a reality.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel