Queen Elizabeth II has summoned her grandson for a crisis meeting to discuss future arrangements for the Duke of Sussex and his wife, following the couple's shock announcement they want to step back from royal duties.

Key points: The senior Royals will gather to discuss concerns raised by Prince Harry and Meghan publicly last week

The senior Royals will gather to discuss concerns raised by Prince Harry and Meghan publicly last week The meeting will be held at the Queen's Sandringham estate on Monday, a source told Reuters

The meeting will be held at the Queen's Sandringham estate on Monday, a source told Reuters Officials had been reportedly holding talks behind the scenes prior to the couple's announcement

Prince Harry's father the Prince of Wales and his elder brother the Duke of Cambridge 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, Duchess of Sussex, will try to join via telephone from Canada where she returned earlier in the week to rejoin the couple's baby son, Archie.

The Duke and Duchess 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, sussexroyal.com; a move which hurt and disappointed the Queen and other Royals, according to a royal source.

The Sandringham meeting will be the first time the senior Royals have met in person to discuss the concerns raised by Prince Harry and Meghan, a former American TV actress.

Officials have 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 have progressed well.

The meeting will be the first time senior Royals have gathered to discuss the couple's announcement. ( Instagram: kensingtonroyal )

The consultations, which also included the British and Canadian governments, paved the way for a face-to-face meeting between Prince 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.

Latest crisis for the Windsors

The split between Prince 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.

Such is the global interest in Prince Harry and the Duchess that their news has overshadowed a scandal surrounding Prince Andrew, the Duke of York, and his friendship with disgraced late US financier Jeffrey Epstein, who committed suicide in jail in August while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges in the US.

The Queen referred to last year as a "bumpy" period for the Royal family, following the controversy surrounding Prince Andrew. ( AP: Matt Dunham, file )

In an emotional TV interview last October, Prince Harry admitted he and Prince 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 Prince 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 the Duchess of Sussex 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.

Reuters