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 Harry's father Prince Charles, the heir to the throne, and his
elder brother Prince William, will also attend the meeting, due
to take place on Monday at the queen's Sandringham estate in
Norfolk, eastern England, a Buckingham Palace source told
Reuters.
Meghan, an American former TV actress, will try to join via
telephone from Canada where she returned earlier in the week to
rejoin the couple's baby son, Archie.
Harry and Meghan, officially known as the Duke and Duchess of
Sussex, surprised the rest of the royal family on Wednesday by
publicly announcing they wanted a "new working model" that would
allow them to spend more time in North America and to be
financially independent.
They did not consult the 93-year-old monarch or other members of
the family before making their announcement on a new website,
https://sussexroyal.com, a move which hurt and disappointed the
queen and other royals, according to a royal source.
The meeting on Monday will be the first time the senior royals
have met in person to discuss the concerns raised by Harry and
Meghan.
Officials had been holding talks behind the scenes since the
bombshell statement to try to work out a new arrangement for the
couple, and a royal source said those efforts progressed well.
The consultations, which also included the British and Canadian
governments, paved the way for a face-to-face meeting between
Harry and the queen.
The palace source said it remained the queen's aim to a find a
resolution to the crisis in days rather than weeks but it would
require "complex and thoughtful discussions" and any agreement
would take time to be implemented.
The split between Harry and the other Windsors is the latest
crisis the royal family has faced in a period described last
month as "bumpy" by the queen in a televised annual address.
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Such is the global interest in Harry and Meghan that their news has
overshadowed a scandal surrounding the queen's second son Prince
Andrew and his friendship with disgraced late U.S. financier Jeffrey
Epstein, who hanged himself in jail in August while awaiting trial
on federal sex trafficking charges.
In an emotional TV interview last October, Harry admitted he and
William had fallen out.
The Sunday Times newspaper said the elder prince had spoken of his
sadness at the rift. The brothers were close for years following the
death of their mother Princess Diana in a Paris car crash in 1997.
The newspaper quoted William as saying to an unnamed friend: "I've
put my arm around my brother all our lives and I can't do that any
more, we're separate entities.
"I'm sad about that. All we can do, and all I can do, is try and
support them and hope that the time comes when we're all singing
from the same page. I want everyone to play on the team."
Earlier on Saturday, the Times newspaper reported that Meghan had
agreed to do voiceover work for Disney in return for the company
making a donation to a charity she supports that works to protect
elephants.
A Buckingham Palace spokeswoman had no immediate comment on the
report. Disney did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
(Reporting by Michael Holden and Estelle Shirbon in London; Editing
by Giles Elgood and Daniel Wallis)
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