Royal crisis: It's ambitious to think there's already a plan for Harry and Meghan's exit
The royals must try to put the disappointment and hurt to one side as they draw up workable plans for Harry and Meghan.
Monday 13 January 2020 10:33, UK
Just 24 hours after Prince Harry and Meghan dropped their bombshell statement, the Queen was adamant that workable plans would be drawn up within days and not weeks.
And on Saturday that was again made very clear - Her Majesty wants this all sorted out "at pace", summoning her family to see her in Sandringham to sort it out.
It has been an unbelievable week for the House of Windsor, so the idea we're already potentially looking at well-thought-out solutions to how the Duke and Duchess of Sussex can step back as senior royals seems ambitious to say the least.
But just four days after Harry and Meghan broke ranks, a family meeting - unprecedented in recent years - is taking place.
As you'd expect, what the Queen wants, the Queen gets, and royal staff and civil servants have been working around the clock to draw up a range of possibilities for the monarch, Prince Charles, Prince William and Prince Harry to digest.
Sandringham in Norfolk is a place the family are used to spending happy times together; where they usually all get together for Christmas. But we can only guess how frosty the atmosphere will be as they meet at the house this time.
:: Listen to the Daily podcast on , , ,
It is the first time the four members of the family have met in person since Harry went public with his plans. We don't know exactly what time it'll take place or if anyone else will be in the room with them to run through an agenda of options.
It would make sense that their private secretaries would be on hand. With any projects the private secretary will do the background work before sharing the information with their royal bosses. But the stakes are exceptionally high this time.
The ideas they've come up with are breaking the mould, setting a precedent for future young royals and laying out the final blueprint for how Harry and Meghan can break away and start their new financially independent life.
Which leads us to the one person we know will be missing in the room. The day after their statement was released, Meghan flew back to Canada to be with son Archie, who the Sussexes left behind after their Christmas break.
We're told she may join the meeting by telephone, this is after all her future they're discussing as well, but being eight hours behind may make the timings challenging.
Her decision to leave the country, even though we're told that was always the plan, is another extraordinary twist and one of the reasons why these negotiations will be so difficult.
The Queen may want solutions and fast, but I'm told there is an appreciation that a change to their working life and role within the monarchy requires complex and thoughtful discussion, and there is agreement that any decisions will take time to implement.
In other words, we might hear about potential next steps late on Monday, but I suspect ironing out a final agreement will take time. There is so much at stake.
With the Prince of Wales flying back from Oman, Prince Harry likely to be travelling from Windsor and Prince William also joining his grandmother in Norfolk, they must try to put the disappointment and hurt to one side.
Certainly no easy task after the enormity of what has happened this week. Solutions will need to be agreed on that suit the Sussexes but also work for the rest of the family and the wider institution.
But the fact we even know the talks are happening says a lot. This is a monarch who would rather keep family matters private.
But in a week where her grandson broke ranks, she has also gone public telling us about the family meeting. A sign to the country and the Commonwealth that she is determined to take back control.