Queen Elizabeth intervenes for the first time after "Harry and Meghan's independence"
Britain's Queen Elizabeth summoned her grandson, Prince Harry, for a crisis meeting and discussed future arrangements for him and his wife, Megan, after the couple suddenly announced that they would give up their royal duties.
A source in Buckingham Palace told Reuters that the meeting is scheduled for Monday at the home of "Queen Sandringham" owned by Queen Elizabeth in the Norfolk area in eastern England, in the presence of Prince Charles, Crown Prince and father of Harry and Prince William, brother of Harry.
Megan Merkel, the former American TV actress, will try to join the meeting by phone from Canada, where she returned to her last week to be with Harry's son Archie.
The couple Harry and Meghan, who officially bear the title of Duke and Duchess of Sussex, surprised the royal family on Wednesday when they announced that they wanted a "new business model" that would allow them to spend more time in North America and financially independent.
Neither Harry, Megan, the 93-year-old Queen nor the other royal family members, had been consulted before announcing the matter on the Sussex Royal.com news site, in a move that hurt the feelings of the queen and family members and disappointed them, a source in the palace said.
The meeting will be the first time that senior members of the royal family have met face-to-face to discuss the concerns raised by Harry and Megan.
Officials have been holding talks behind the scenes since Harry and Meghan's decision was announced in pursuit of a new arrangement for the couple, and a source at the palace said these efforts had gone well.
The consultations, which also involved the British and Canadian governments, paved the way for a face-to-face meeting between Harry and the Queen.
