'Deeply hurt': Queen's warning to Prince Harry

Queen Elizabeth II departs in her Bentley car after attending Sunday service at the Church of St Mary Magdalene on the Sandringham estate on January 12. Photo / Getty Images

The Queen will today inform Prince Harry of the obstacles he will have to overcome before he can effectively step down as a senior royal.

Members of the royal family are gathering today at Sandringham for the historical royal summit.

Their task is to come up with what is being described as a "direction of travel" for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.

The Queen, who is said to have been left "deeply hurt" by the couple's bombshell announcement, and their decision to release the statement without her knowledge, says she wants to solve the issue "within days".

The royal staff has prepared a series of proposals to put on the table today.

Prince Harry will be warned that the crisis is far from over.

The governments of both the UK and Canada have been involved in discussions but the details of how to proceed could take weeks or even months to finalise.

Issues such as visas, tax payments, security and residency all need to be worked out.

Sources say Prince Harry and his wife Meghan have the end goal of moving to Los Angeles but will first settle in Canada and await for Donald Trump to no longer be president of the US.

The Queen, the Prince of Wales, Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, and Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, will today meet for the first time since early November, when they last met at the Queen's Norfolk estate.

A lot has happened since then.

Prince Charles arrived in Sandringham last night, after a visit to Oman to offer the UK's condolences on the death of Sultan Qaboos bin Said.

Meghan will reportedly "dial in" via phone into the unprecedented summit today.

She is currently in Canada with her son Archie, who is now 8 months old.

Prince Harry is set to fly to Canada later this week. It is not known when he intends to return to the UK.

"It is anticipated that at the end of the meeting a series of steps will be agreed, in line with Her Majesty's wish for this to be resolved within days not weeks," a royal source said, quoted by the Daily Mail.

"That's certainly the aim. But there will need to be an understanding that any decision will take time to be implemented and is complicated by issues including the HMRC (Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs), security and the like."

While no permanent solutions are expected that soon, next steps must be decided by the end of the day today (GMT time).